Ørsted Celebrates £1 Million Milestone of “Skills Fund” As Winners Announced for Coastal Areas of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and North Norfolk
Since launching their community grant programme, Ørsted has awarded more than £1 million to specifically fund projects relating to Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM).
The East Coast “Skills Fund” forms part of the company’s £465,000 East Coast Community Fund 20-year annual commitment and is part of the community engagement programme for Ørsted’s Hornsea and Race Bank offshore wind farms, which are located off the Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and North Norfolk coast.
Decisions have now been reached on the company’s sixth annual round and will see the £100,000 available funding to be shared between four organisations.
The first award goes to Primary Engineer who will be delivering their ‘Primary Engineer Construction Project’ in up to 10 schools in and around the Kings Lynn area. Teachers attend a practical, online CPD course and are provided with sets of tools and consumables to deliver both the Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 projects.
Andrew Norris from Primary Engineer said upon hearing the news, “We are delighted to receive a grant from the East Coast Skills Fund. Since 2005, Primary Engineer have worked with teachers to bring engineering into the classroom and develop children and young people’s skills and aspiration through engagement with engineering programmes. The programmes offer teachers professional development to deliver curriculum aligned projects which inspire pupils and help to address the gender and diversity imbalance in science and engineering through enabling all pupils to take part in whole-class activity. This grant will enable our work to be implemented across the East Coast region with local teachers inspiring the next generation of engineers.”
The second award this year goes to Positive Footprints. The grant will allow 25 primary schools in the fund’s area of benefit to receive its ‘Raising Aspirations’ programme where pupils in key stage 2 discover their potential, explore the world of work and develop the skills they need for the future. Over 925 children will take part in 300 hours of learning across one and a half academic years.
The third grant this year has been awarded to the Grimsby Town Football in the Community Sports and Education Trust. The project will introduce children to STEM learning through hands-on, football themed coding and mathematics activities. By combining football with interactive and engaging programming activities, pupils will become masters of block-based coding. This is a great way to get children excited about STEM learning through a sport they already know and love, as well as supporting schools with the perfect start in teaching STEM Education.
TEC Partnership is the recipient of the fourth grant this year. The funding will be used to engage key stage 2 and 4 students from schools across the North East Lincolnshire and Lincolnshire coastal strip. With a programme of innovative student events, the project aims to spark awareness and interest in rewarding careers in renewables/STEM sectors to students of all backgrounds with a range of characteristics, especially those under-represented in these industries.
Imran Nawaz, Senior Stakeholder Advisor and Community Benefit Fund Manager, said: “We are delighted to have awarded over £1 million to causes which help people realise their potential. STEM careers are pivotal to organisations in the renewables sector, and we want to do all we can to support people with those interests to develop this specialist set of skills.”
The Fund is being administered by the independent grant-making charity GrantScape. For further information about the Fund and when and how to apply, please visit their website www.grantscape.org.uk or call them on 01908 247630.
