Heathrow’s Primary School Challenge Programme has been awarded the 2014 Malcolm Gibbons Cup in this year’s Spark! Partnership Awards, which highlight leading examples of successful collaboration between education and the local business community.
Heathrow’s Primary School Challenge inspires local students to explore careers in engineering and address a growing national skills gap in this field. Students learn the engineering story of Heathrow’s Terminal 2, are then encouraged to draw up designs for their own terminal, and finally, turn their designs into a reality using STIXX - an environmentally friendly piece of technology that turns newspapers into building rods.
This year, the 8th annual edition of the Challenge involved an astounding 52 schools and 3,250 students in the five surrounding boroughs to the airport – Ealing, Hounslow, Hillingdon, Slough and Spelthorne.
Sundeep Sangha, Head of Economic Development at Heathrow said:
“We are very pleased to be the recipient of this year’s Malcolm Gibbons Cup and see the Heathrow Primary School Challenge recognised as a leader in work-related primary school programmes. Over the years, 20,741 year 5 & 6 students have benefitted from the skills taught in the Challenge and undoubtedly many of them have been inspired to pursue careers in engineering. Raising aspirations and academic achievement is the true mark of success for this programme, and why it is so popular each year.”
Rachel McAdam,Fundraising Manager from Spark! Partnership added:
“We were impressed by the focus and commitment from the Heathrow Education Team in helping young people to learn about careers at the airport, and were pleased to be able to hand over the cup to recognise the success of the Primary School Challenge. Spark! looks forward to ongoing collaboration and thanks Heathrow for their hard work and support.”
Now entering its 35th year, Spark! is a charity bridging the gap between schools and business, helping young people to understand the world of work. Formerly the Hounslow Education Business Partnership, Spark! held its 28th Annual Partnership Awards event on 20th November 2014.
Schools across the five boroughs neighbouring the airport will soon be receiving an email invite, and contact details for the 2015 Heathrow Primary School Challenge.
