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The ITS Team attended an Industry Ambassador Training Webinar given by Nicky Waller of Centre for Industry Education Collaboration (CIEC) on 22nd April 2020.

This organisation has been delivering the Children Challenging Industry (CCI) Programme across the Tees Valley since 1996.

The CCI Programme aims to improve children’s motivation and enjoyment in relation to science and develop an understanding of industry and their future careers.

The programme delivers a consistently positive impact on pupils and teachers and creates a memorable, stimulating and safe learning environment for the primary school children.

CIEC is supported by industry partners such as ITS to develop relevant classroom activities, resources and site tours tailored to the actual company.

Nicky Waller from CCI speaks about the importance of industry involvement:

“The underlying philosophy of the CCI programme is for primary school children to experience science, presented in an industrial context.

Motivating and exciting site visits or ambassador visits to school, organised in liaison with our industrial partners, enable children to see how scientific concepts are applied from classroom scenarios to real life – often resulting in a more positive, memorable view of modern-day industry and raised aspirations.

We are forever grateful to the companies involved in the programme, for their financial support and investment in time and workforce power into developing effective demonstrations and activities that make children’s visits both educational and enjoyable.”

Engaging with a real scientist or engineer can stimulate children’s curiosity, encourage questioning, inspire pupils and introduce them to the world of work outside of the classroom.

ITS’ employees are embracing the challenge of providing engaging practical classroom investigations linked to the primary school curriculum which can be related to real-world engineering.

ITS ambassadors are looking forward to visiting local primary schools to support these activities alongside teachers and pupils.

We believe at ITS that being a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) Ambassador is an excellent opportunity to give something back to our local community, as Malcolm Knott, ITS` Managing Director says:

“Our links with schools are important to inspire young people to take up engineering careers and be our future employees.”

The CCI Programme can be a successful catalyst to revitalise science in primary schools.

It is a fantastic opportunity to inspire the next generation of STEM employees to engage with the science and engineering on their doorstep.