It’s all hands on deck at The Inspirational Learning Group as we prepare for a busy summer of Next Engineers activity. In addition to welcoming 100 young aspiring engineers as part of our Experience weeks, we are also working hard in final preparations for the graduation event for our fantastic Cohort 1 Academy students!
In advance of their graduation on Thursday 1st August, we asked the Cohort to reflect on their 3 years with the Next Engineers Academy and share their experiences and future plans with us.
Back in January, 44 young people from all areas in Staffordshire came together for the first time with a shared goal: to take part in a 3-year transformative learning experience, learning how to think and act like engineers. As we approach the end of the UK academic year, we caught up with our Cohort 3 aspiring engineers and asked them to reflect on their experiences during their first year of the Next Engineers: Engineering Academy.
With exciting challenges including Run Marble Run, Toxic Popcorn and Critical Load, Year 9 students have had the opportunity to engage with our team through hands-on engineering activities to expand their engineering understanding. In addition to this, students have also developed the building blocks of Next Engineers: awareness, interest, engineering habits of mind, engineering identity and agency - key skills for our future engineers!
In March we welcomed our Cohort 3 students back to Stafford for their next Academy sessions.
Armed with the Engineering Design Principles and knowledge that they have gained during previous Academy sessions, students were tasked with building a foam board glider which was required to meet the success criteria, including covering a distance of at least 30m and remaining intact on landing!
Over 175 learners at Blythe Bridge High School (Staffordshire, UK) took part in Engineering Discovery for the very first time. Tasked with the challenge to build the tallest possible Radio Tower, supporting a weight at the top, we caught up with one of their facilitators Liam, and students who took part, to find out more!
Next Engineers Staffordshire is, and has been, delivered by a pool of quality programme facilitators, although since inception back in 2021 there have been two permanent faces, Ben and Carl, we thought it was time for you to meet them and find out more!
We caught up with our learners on Next Engineers Academy, Cohort 3 to find out about their experience so far as our newest learners!
It was a pleasure to welcome back our Cohort 1 & 2 Next Engineers to Engineering Academy, Staffordshire on November 1st & 2nd 2023!
Successful applicants will be notified on December 1st as to whether they have been successful in securing a place.
With time running out for year 11 students to submit their Next Engineers: Engineering Academy application forms, we caught up with TILG's Education Programme Manager, Liam, who is currently promoting the opportunity across the county.
September is a busy month for everyone included in education in the United Kingdom. From schools starting their academic year’s and students and teachers returning from the 6 week holidays, the month of September signals the start of a fresh new year and it’s no different for the team at The Inspirational Learning Group!
Staffordshire’s Next Engineers: Engineering Experience 2023 was a huge success with over 200 aspiring engineers in attendance across the fortnight. The Inspirational Learning Group reflect on the fortnight’s highlights.
Next Engineers returned to Walton High School to ask the students to save their city from the threat of toxic popcorn by designing, building and testing a system to remove it to be decontaminated before it could explode.
Next Engineers Staffordshire engages younger students in Engineering Discovery.
On International Women’s Day, GE Foundation honours the contributions of women to innovation and technology.
Staffordshire's Next Engineers: Engineering Academy ambassadors work alongside GE volunteers and Connectr's fantastic facilitators, developing confidence, creativity, and presentation skills as they offer near-peer support for Cohort 2.
The free programme, run in collaboration with GE Foundation and its partners, The Inspirational Learning Group and FHI 360, is designed to encourage a diverse range of students to pursue engineering as a career through an interactive and engaging experience outside of the classroom.
Academy Cohort 2 students arrived in the classroom as strangers, but after just one week, new friendships have blossomed and students are already developing new skills.
The Next Engineers: Engineering Academy in Staffordshire, U.K., officially kicked off in January 2022 with its first cohort of 50 students. GE Engineer Martin Singh has been volunteering with Next Engineers from the start.
Academy student Xanthe shares her experience: “The whole Next Engineers experience has been unforgettable. Although I was interested in a career in engineering before I started the course, it has definitely showed me the options available to me, and reaffirmed my interested in the subject."
With time running out for year 11 students to submit their Next Engineers: Engineering Academy application forms, we caught up with TILG's Education Programme Manager, Liam, who is currently promoting the opportunity across the county.
Next Engineers is celebrating completing its first year, reaching over 2,000 Staffordshire-based students through three aged specific programmes - Engineering Discovery, Engineering Experience, and Engineering Academy.
Staffordshire Academy participants take time to reflect on their career plans, connect with mentors, and get caught up on missed sessions.
Year 11 students at Staffordshire University participate in a fantastic 4-day Design Challenge as part of Next Engineers: Engineering Academy.
On the 12 Feb the first group of inspiring young people met for the first time to begin their three-year, fully funded Academy program! Read all about how the experience is going so far.
Representation matters — especially when it comes to the people solving the world’s most urgent problems.
Forty-Seven Year 11 students have been officially selected to form the first cohort for the GE Foundation’s Next Engineers: Engineering Academy programme.
On the 7th December 2021 from 1.15-3pm, we delivered a Next Engineers Discovery workshop at Great Wyrley Academy in Walsall for a group of Year 9 students.
GE Next Engineers: Engineering Discovery has kicked off in Staffordshire, with our first 3 workshops at Haywood Academy in Stoke-On-Trent!
GE Announces Multi-Million Pound Investment to Create Diverse New Generation of UK Engineers.
An American multinational is spending two and a half million pounds to encourage 3,500 teenagers in Staffordshire to become engineers.
