The School Gate SET is a new online community of parents volunteering to help with Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) in their children’s primary schools. Set up by Kate Bellingham, (IET member, Champion for Girls' Opportunities in Engineering and former Tomorrow's World presenter), it will provide activity ideas, training and mentoring, through face to face training, a blog and other social media platforms.
Do you know a part-time or career break parent with a STEM background and a child in primary school who might like to get involved?
The target group are career-break parents who may have lost confidence in their STEM skills and are therefore less likely to 'return' to STEM work and they are more likely to self-identify as 'parents' than with 'STEM'. However, we are also keen to hear from those working part-time with time to help during the school day. The beneficiaries will be:
- schools (who gain an embedded STEM Ambassador)
- parents (who regain confidence and get valuable experience using their STEM skills)
- STEM employers (who are aware that many women do not return after a career-break and are 'lost' from STEM - this will be a new way to reach out to them)
We have received an Ingenious Grant from the Royal Academy of Engineering specifically to train 40 parent engineers and technicians not currently in the profession by the end of 2016, 20 of whom will be in Hertfordshire and 20 from the Dorset area. We aim to recruit them by mid-July. We are finding it challenging to reach out to and engage with these parents. Please can you help by passing on the attached flier to anyone you know who may be interested, or know people who are?
Please e-mail me at womensnetwork@theiet.org if you are able to help