Sixth-formers and university graduates will work together to educate schoolkids about STEM subjects and career options in an innovative new pilot project launched at Queen Mary’s College, reports Samantha King

The STEM Sellers initiative will partner five recent graduates on the Atomic Weapons Establishment’s (AWE) graduate programme with 20 of the Hampshire sixth-form’s students on STEM courses. They will all come up with ideas for outreach activities to take to local primary and secondary schools.

Managed by the graduates, the project will provide the college’s students with an opportunity to work closely with people who have been through university and who are taking their first steps on the STEM career ladder, as well as developing their own employability skills.

“We see this project as a win-win-win,” explained Marcus Rutland, STEM development lead at Queen Mary’s. “Our local schools get somebody else in doing something entirely free, with everything managed. It’s great for our students because they can build their skills and interact with people who can give them an eye-opener about the opportunities ahead, and it’s good for the AWE graduates who get to work on their project management and teamwork skills.”

Running every two weeks in the college’s timetabled tutor time, students and graduates have been brainstorming the activities they’ll deliver to schools, striking a balance between “fun science” activities including forensic challenges and chemical reaction experiments, with informative sessions on why youngsters should pursue STEM subjects post-16.

A body language expert from AWE will visit the group next week to run a workshop on how to deliver a good presentation, to equip the students with the skills they’ll need to run their sessions successfully in schools.

“If you’re speaking to a crowd of educationalists, this project has the benefit of being something that is high impact without requiring any one person at the college to be cooking up every detail from scratch, which would be really time-consuming. Having AWE as a partner and the graduates there is fantastic,” Mr Rutland added.

“It’s something I can see could be repeated elsewhere. I’m sure lots of STEM employers have lots of graduate-intake programmes where they want the graduates to take a lead on something.”

Funding for the project, including minibus hire and any purchases required for the workshops, will be covered by a fund accessible to the AWE graduates.

Creative media students have enjoyed a week-long crash course in movie marketing with representatives from film studio, 20th Century Fox.

The learners from Manchester College were told to build a digital campaign around the studio’s upcoming film release, Love Simon, a rom-com telling the story of a closeted gay teenage boy in high school.

The campaigns were judged by Cameron Saunders, UK managing director for 20th Century Fox, as well as members of the studio’s marketing team, and the winning campaign used the idea of “facing your fears” to fit the film’s theme of coming out.

As part of the project, students were also allowed to see snippets of the film, which is officially released in April, and received an invite to a pre-screening in March.

“This has been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had as a tutor,” said Katy Rushton, a media tutor at the college. “I’ve seen students who were too shy to answer questions in class grow in confidence over the course of a week, to the point where they could pitch their ideas to 20th Century Fox professionals.”

The series of workshops with the film giant were facilitated by Ideas Foundation, a charity which gets 13- to 19-year-olds hands-on experience in the creative industries.

Main picture: Students and reps from 20th Century Fox

Catering students experienced the world of military cooking after a visit from the army’s 167 Catering Support Regiment.

Under the watchful eye of the team of military chefs, the Warrington and Vale Royal College learners used basic rations to whip up nutritional dishes that could support a soldier in the field, including pasta, stews and flapjacks made with tinned and long-life produce.

Students also had the opportunity to ask the army chefs about the career options available in the forces, and heard about their experiences in a field kitchen.

“This was a great opportunity for our students to see what it’s like to work within the armed forces as a chef. It’s a career option that many of them had never thought about before,” said Andy Macleod, the college’s curriculum manager for hospitality and catering.

“Using the ration packs to produce a meal was really interesting – we all loved it,” added student Maddie Hannam.

The college hopes to take students on a visit to the 167 regiment’s Lincolnshire-based barracks over the next few months.

A college’s on-site restaurant has become the first in Liverpool to achieve gold accreditation from People 1st.

The L20 hotel school and L20 restaurant at Hugh Baird College was also awarded ‘centre of excellence’ status for the quality of the training it delivers to aspiring chefs, as well as its links with the catering industry.

The restaurant was also placed at the “top end” of the college rosette award scheme by AA inspector Garry Baldwin, who presented it with a ‘highly commended’ award.

“To be the first college in the region to be awarded gold accreditation and named as a centre of excellence really does recognise the hard work we put in,” said Stephen Otty, the curriculum coordinator at L20 hotel school.

“The school was launched to address the hospitality skills gap of the ever-growing visitor economy of the Liverpool City Region and we continue to do this in spectacular style year on year,” added Yana Williams, the college’s principal and CEO.

The college’s L20 restaurant currently has a five-star rating on trip advisor.

A UK-wide competition is seeking the most social media-savvy people working in further education.

The FE Social Media Superstars 2018, run by Jisc, is looking for anyone from marketing staff to college principals who are making a positive difference to the sector using social media.

Applicants will be judged on how they use social media to address specific needs and challenges, the impact their social media prowess has had on their institution or the wider community, and how they have used social media in an innovative way.

Ten winners will be named, and each will win a visit for their college or institution from Jisc’s Digi Lab, featuring a robot, a brain reader, and augmented reality software.

Previous winners include Bedford College CEO Ian Pryce, for upbeat tweets which draw national media attention, and Hull College Group’s Amanda Reeve, a theatrical make-up tutor who uses Instagram to show off her students’ work and secure them work placements.

Entries should be submitted before midnight on March 29. To apply, click here.