admin, Author at Millennium Point

We are proud to announce our first hybrid conference – Talking Point: The Future of Events. This two-hour hybrid conference covers the roadmap to recovery for the events industry and coincides with the relaunch of our multi-award winning events businesses.

Fourteen months ago the events and hospitality industry in the UK was forced to close due to Covid-19. Now with the industry reopening, venues, booking agents and customers have a lot to consider on the road to recovery.

Talking Point: The Future of Events runs from 2pm – 4pm on Wednesday 26th May. It consists of two panels that will examine what the next 12-18 months has in store for the events industry. Topics covered will include the latest trends, the rise of hybrid and virtual conference solutions, the importance of sustainability, corporate social responsibility and what the roadmap to recovery will be for events and hospitality.

This will be an opportunity for agents, event bookers and professionals to see how a hybrid event at Millennium Point works as well join in a vital conversation around kickstarting the events and hospitality industry across the UK.

The panels comprise local leaders across key industries including Chris Peacock, Co-Founder of Conference; Michael Anderson, Director of Projects at West Midlands Metro and Andrew Perolls, CEO of Greengage Solutions – with more to be announced over the coming weeks.

Rebecca Delmore, Commercial Director and Victoria Webb, Sales Manager both at Millennium Point, will also join the panels to give insight into the current position of being an events and conference venue.

This event will be hosted live from our newly refurbished 354 seat Auditorium and is available to attend online and in limited numbers in person at Millennium Point. This will be the first glimpse at our Auditorium since it’s refurbishment in spring this year with brand new features which include a larger stage and inmproved lighting and AV technology.

This event is free to attend both online and in person. The event will be broadcast live across our digital channels and will be available for replay on our Youtube following it’s conclusion.

To reserve your ticket, or for further information, visit the dedicated page here.

Find more interesting content from Millennium Point over at our news section, or follow us for daily updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn with @MillenniumPoint. Millennium Point is a landmark public building and multi-award-winning events venue in the Eastside of Birmingham City centre. Profits from our commercial activity are invested by the Millennium Point Charitable Trust into projects, events and initiatives which support the growth of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and education in the West Midlands.

We’re delighted to announce the panel of judges for this year’s Millennium Point Scholarship competition. The panel consists of professionals influential in their respective fields from a broad range of STEM industries.

The distinguished judging panel, which will be headed by Millennium Point CEO Abbie Vlahakis, also features:

Professor Hanifa Shah – Executive Dean of the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment, Birmingham City University
Kari Lawler – Founder at Youth4Code and Youth4AI
Mike Ridler – Head of Business Development and Education at Learn by Design
Sam Gibbs – CEO at IT specialists 81G

The calibre of finalists for this year’s scholarship is impressive as ever, so it’s only right that the quality of our judging panel is equal to it. This is a phenomenal opportunity for all five students – not just the winner of the life-changing scholarship, but the advice and support they all receive from the Trust, both before and after the final.

What’s the Millennium Point Scholarship?

Now in its seventh year, the Millennium Point Trust Scholarship has already funded six inspiring young people from the region through their degrees at Birmingham City University’s Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment. Previous winners of the scholarship include Sagal Qodah in 2017, who has since gone on to graduate with a First Class Honours degree in Civil Engineering and has now landed a dream graduate role at Jacobs.

How will a winner be chosen?

The panel will assess our five Scholarship finalists for 2021, who will be announced later this month. The assessment includes a formal presentation and an informal interview about the finalist and their motivation to win the scholarship. While the assessment will take place behind closed doors as a precaution against covid-19, the results will be announced in a closed ceremony which will be broadcast from our multi-award-winning venue on Friday 26th May.

The Livestream will be announced in the coming weeks and will be available to view across our digital channels. For more information on the Scholarship competition, visit www.millenniumpoint.org.uk/scholarship

Image (L – R): Professor Hanifa Shah, Executive Dean of the BCUCEBE, Abigail Vlahakis, CEO of Millennium Point, Shennice Talburt, Scholarship Winner 2020, Prof. Nick Morton, Head of the School of Engineering and the Built Environment at the Scholarship Live Final in 2020.

Maximise the reach and impact of your next event with a hybrid or virtual package, now available from our multi-award-winning venue.

With four available to choose from, our hybrid and virtual event packages give you and your event greater flexibility and impact – making them an ideal choice for your big come back once events are allowed from 17th May.

Packages available are:

Package 1: HD Video Conferencing from £250
Package 2: Studio Package (On Demand Recording) from £1200
Package 3: Studio Package (Live Stream) from £1500
Package 4: Auditorium Hybrid Conference (Live Stream) from £1750

Further details and demonstrations can be found on our dedicated page.

Virtual Event at Millennium Point. Jade & JP Acoustic Duo.

What’s a virtual event?

Virtual events are 100% online with no physical presence at the event. For example, this could be an online conference, presentation or webinar, where attendees watch via an online platform such as YouTube or Vimeo.

Setting up for a Hybrid Event in the Auditorium at Millennium Point

What’s a hybrid event?

Hybrid events are slightly different to Virtual events, they combine physical attendance with an online presence. This allows for greater audience numbers as additional attendees can join virtually and enjoy the same content as the physical attendees. Hybrid events allow the same interaction within an event such as Q&A, whether your watching in person or virtually.

Virtual Event. The Wolfpack Howlers Charity stream live from Millennium Point’s Studio.

Why choose one of these packages?

Virtual and Hybrid conference solutions are incredibly attractive in 2021. Pandemic aside, they offer greater flexibility to your event by minimising issues such as travel and accessibility due to being available remotely. They’re also less affected by local or global events, so less risk of postponing or cancelling your event.

You will reach a wider online audience. This not only gives your event more gravitas but gives you access to more data and insights, which helps grow your business and keep stakeholders happy. Lastly, this makes sponsorship more lucrative and therefore your event more attractive to sponsors or investors.

Explore our hybrid and virtual conference solutions today and see how we can help you make a big come back to events.

Every year, the Millennium Point Charitable Trust Small Grants programme gives out grants of up to £20,000 to support science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education projects in the West Midlands. Applications are now open for 2021.

Here is one of the many projects that the programme has funded in 2020.

Who’s running the project?
The project is run by Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School who is the third oldest school in the West Midlands and one of the leading state schools in the country, offering education to boys in year 7-11, with a co-educational sixth form. The school aims to become an educational hub offering resources to other schools and communities within the area.

What’s it all about?
The school’s new timekeeping project is aimed at Key Stage Three pupils, specifically those in year 8, with a focus on students designing and making their own working clocks, using the new laser cutter the grant will help buy.

STEM plays a massive part in the school’s culture, including a specialist STEM block that opened in 2017 and science A-Levels the most popular in terms of uptake. This latest project’s aim is to raise skill levels and give students access to areas of DT (Design Technology) they would not normally cover in lesson time. Interest and uptake in the project is expected to be high, so the school has scheduled to run the project twice during the academic year.

The funding will also allow the school to support outreach work with local primaries, which will develop Key Stage Two pupils and give them access to cutting edge technology, inspiring them to consider a future in STEM.

Who will benefit?
As many Year 8 students as possible, depending on the uptake and practicalities of the sessions and bubble timetables. The sessions will be with groups of a maximum of 20 students.

What they said:
Mrs Skye Bowen, Head of Design Technology, commented: “This is an interesting application of the capacity of the laser cutter; it gives the students a physical and working product at the end, and exposes them to CAD and CAM processes. It’s also outside of the realms of projects they might undertake within the confines of the curriculum.

“We have focused on Key Stage Three because due to curriculum restrictions our pupils do not have as much exposure to the practical elements of Design Technology as we would like. Ultimately, it’s our aim to encourage greater numbers of pupils opting for Design Technology as a GCSE subject; we then aim to put on A-level courses in the near future, to support the design and engineering careers.”

About educational grant funding from Millennium Point
Educators, Charities and Not-for-Profits within the West Midlands Combined Authority can apply for up to £20,000 from Millennium Point to fund their STEM activity. For more information on how to access this funding please visit www.millenniumpoint.org.uk/grants

Recently we talked about how environmental sustainability has been gaining significant traction in-light of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, with a tentative date for conferencing and events to make a return, many event bookers are starting to consider ways in which they can ensure their events are more considerate of the environment. We’ve checked in with our multi-award winning events team as they’re gearing up to re-open to bring you three ways to make your event more environmentally friendly.

Make it a hybrid event

A hybrid event combines a physical event with an online presence through live streaming and virtual conferencing technology. This allows for an online audience as well as a physical one, eliminating capacity issues and increases the reach and engagement of your event. Other benefits to a hybrid event include being more accessible to vulnerable people, or those restricted by location or transport; greater flexibility and security from cancellation caused by local disruption; and valuable data and metrics that give a deeper insight into your event.

Hybrid events go a long way to reducing an events carbon footprint. With people accessing online, it reduces carbon emissions that would have been generated from travel; it also reduces the energy and water consumption required and cuts down on wasted food and products venues will have leftover from the event. Outside of the event itself, you would also be reducing the carbon footprint of attendees who may have had to travel and stay in a hotel by giving them the option to attend virtually.

Sustainable food and drink

Adopt sustainable food and beverage practices when providing for your attendees. Examples of this can be vegetarian and vegan meal options and locally and ethically sourced produce that support the local economy, and managing food waste rather than simply binning it. These practices not only help the environment but also provide more choice and for your guests, allowing them more opportunity to reduce their carbon footprint and feel good about themselves and by extension creating a more positive event experience. Having these practices may also increase engagement from your audience, reducing any concerns they have over their carbon footprint and making your event more attractive to attend.

Most venues, like Millennium Point, should have their own supply chains for sustainable food and drink should you wish to go through them rather than source your own.

Use recyclable and environmentally sustainable materials

Complimentary to your sustainable food and beverages, you can also look at switching to more recyclable and environmentally friendly materials for use at your events. This can be anything from using paper or canvas bags to hand out to attendees to using paper plates, paper straws and wooden cutlery and serving drinks in biodegradable cups. Similarly, ensure that these items are recycled properly after the event rather than binned through dedicated recycle bins or recycle “stations” set up throughout the event.

Switching to recyclable and environmentally sustainable materials save on waste products, energy and water consumption (from cleaning). Like we mentioned above, they are also a great way of visually demonstrating your commitment to the environment to your attendees. Their event experience may also be improved knowing that both you and they are taking steps to reduce your carbon footprint.

Start planning your next environmentally sustainable event at Millennium Point

Our multi-award winning venue is located in the eastside of Birmingham city centre. We have seventeen versatile indoor and outdoor conference and event spaces from intimate meeting rooms to a large 354-seat auditorium with a giant screen. We offer hybrid and virtual conference solutions with seamless HD live streaming and advanced audio and visual technology. We are proud to be an ECOsmart venue for the measures we are taking to be environmentally sustainable. Speak to one of our highly trained and friendly events team, with over 40 years of combined experience, about planing your next environmentally sustainable event or conference at Millennium Point.

We are proud to be working with Wowdot CIC to support the Connect_In campaign, which provides laptops to children without access to computers or the internet.

Our landmark public building in the eastside of Birmingham city centre is a drop off point in which members of the public can donate any unused laptops they have. These laptops will then be refurbished and distributed to vulnerable children within the local area. Millennium Point has further supported the initiative by donating a number of laptops to the cause, alongside encouraging other businesses and the public to support the campaign.

The acceleration of digital demand as a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic has underlined the overwhelming digital poverty that hits schools and children within the West Midlands. Launched by The Child Poverty Action Forum and supported by Wowdot CIC, the Connect_In campaign aims to ensure the most disadvantaged families are receiving the help that they need with homeschooling during the pandemic, in the form of laptops and a stable internet connection. Millennium Point joins a host of businesses that have partnered with Wowdot CIC to support this campaign.

Abbie Vlahakis, CEO of Millennium Point, commented: “Education and STEM are in the trust’s DNA, so it was clear to us that we had to get involved with the Connect_In campaign.

“It’s essential that every child has access to education and digital provision during the pandemic, to give everyone the same life chances and to prevent the “huge gap” between the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and their peers. We’ll not only be serving as a hub for drop-off and collection of laptops, but we’re committed to donating thousands of laptops to disadvantaged local school children too.”

If you or your business has an old laptop you are not using then please bring it to the reception on the ground floor of our landmark public building between 9 am and 5 pm on weekdays.

Alternatively, if you don’t have a laptop but would still like to support then it costs just £300 to provide a family with 12 months of internet connection and a reconditioned PC or laptop. You can donate funds directly to Wowdot’s dedicated account which can be found on their website alongside any other questions you may have.

Go to their website.

Our support forms part of our ongoing mission as a STEM charitable trust to enhance the growth of the region’s STEM sectors; this has included funding more than 40 projects in the form of small grants to fund STEM-related projects in the region; working with Birmingham City University’s Faculty of Computing, Engineering and The Built Environment to offer a free undergraduate degree through the Millennium Point Scholarship.

Image 1 caption (left to right): Cas Majid (CEO of WOW Group), Abbie Vlahakis (Millennium Point CEO) and Bevil Williams (Managing Director at Repc Ltd) delivering laptops and equipment to Highfields School in Saltley

Image 2 caption: Entrance to Millennium Point.

Millennium Point is a landmark public building and multi-award-winning events venue in the Eastside of Birmingham City centre. Profits from our commercial activity are invested by the Millennium Point Charitable Trust into projects, events and initiatives which support the growth of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and education in the West Midlands. Find more interesting content from Millennium Point over at our news section, or follow us for daily updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn with @MillenniumPoint.

Here is one of the many projects that the programme has funded in 2020:

Who’s running the project?
City Road Primary School is situated in the Rotton Park area of north Edgbaston.

What’s it all about?
With support from Millennium Point Charitable Trust, City Road Primary School will create a Sensory Garden for its Early Years pupils. The EYFS (early years foundation stage) outdoor area has been chosen as the dedicated space for this project.

To start the project KS2 children will create designs based on given criteria (outline of the area, needs of children in Early Years, budget and safety aspects). The winning design will be a combination of ideas from children in each KS2 year group. The garden will feature plants (herbs and flowers), solar panel lighting, wind chimes, suncatchers, mirrors and birdhouses. Building raised beds for fruit and vegetables is also included in the project with room for expansion for a solar water feature, a seating area for quiet time and a colourful path linking all the areas depending on budget. The design aspect of this project will build pride in the school and children will hopefully develop a great sense of ownership for the development of the garden.

The sensory garden will provide a great stimulus for developing communication, social skills and an understanding of the world. The design and build of this project will promote STEM throughout the school and community and create a sustainable area which will support teaching and learning for all children as part of the Early Years outdoor learning strand and KS1 and 2’s Science curriculum. This should inspire children’s aspirations and understanding of STEM careers.

Who will benefit?
All pupils at City Road Primary will benefit. The Early Years children will have daily use of this exciting learning space to develop communication and social skills, while older children in other year groups will have a sense of responsibility as they will have time to maintain the area in the future. Sessions in the sensory garden will be embedded in the school’s curriculum, thereby ensuring that it will form part of the teaching of STEM subjects in subsequent academic years.

What they said:
Sarvjeet Jandu, Assistant Head Teacher, commented: “We are so excited about this project. A high percentage of our children are from a minority ethnic background within a socially deprived area. In the locality, there is a growing number of families living in overcrowded houses with no outdoor space and as a result, some of these children have little or no experience of growing plants outdoors or of the natural world. This project will expose them to new experiences which they would not otherwise have, understanding sustainability, growing and the importance of outdoor learning through play.

“Many of the KS2 students involved in the design of the garden have younger siblings in reception and nursery and will remember and discuss their time in the same area. The Sensory Garden will emphasise how we are linking learning across the school and promote the excellent work the children have done.”

When’s it all happening?
A grand opening will be planned during the early summer months to unveil the Sensory Garden. Once built, KS2 children will maintain the area and be responsible for its upkeep, as part of their science curriculum.

We are delighted to announce that our multi-award winning conference and events venue is now re-open for business. This decision comes following the release of the UK Government roadmap which outlines tentative dates for easing of lockdown restrictions regarding events and hospitality.

What can event bookers do?
From this week, we are now taking bookings for events taking place after 17th May 2021 when indoor hospitality is allowed to resume. Please note, this announcement is subject to changes in government guidelines. You can speak to our friendly events team for a no-strings chat to outline your plans before placing a formal booking. All bookings are protected by our flexible booking policy which guarantees protection of your money and your event should it be affected by Covid-19 (e.g. local restrictions).

Why choose Millennium Point?

City Centre location:
We are a multi-award winning venue in the Eastside of Birmingham city centre. We are conveniently located near all major city centre transport hubs which include a 15-minute to New Street train station and the city centre. We also have an on-site council-owned multi-storey car park with over 900 parking spaces and easy access to our building. Our landmark building sits opposite the future site of HS2 Curzon Station and a new transport link for the midland tram network.

Home of quality events and conferences:
We have 17 highly versatile events and conference spaces – from interconnected meeting rooms to a 354 seat auditorium with a giant screen – capable of a large breadth of events from meetings, training and away days to film screenings; exhibitions, performances, parties, formal dining, esports tournaments, festivals and so much more. We also have high-speed Wi-Fi and digital conferencing solutions including full HD live streaming packages, allowing for seamless hybridised events which expand your audiences without compromising safety.

Covid-secure:
Our events team have over 40 years of experience within the hospitality industry and are fully trained in the latest health, safety and hygiene procedures. Until restrictions are lifted, we have a robust client protection plan in place which outlines measures we have taken to make our venue is covid secure without compromising the scope and vision of your event. Our plan has received praise from clients and the industry alike and has resulted in multiple covid-secure certifications including “Safe, Clean and Legal” from Quality in Tourism, “Contagion Secure” from the Meetings Industry Association and are a member of Venues of Excellence.

Your booking supports the local region:
Profits from our commercial activity as a landmark public building and quality conference and events venue go towards the award-winning Millennium Point Charitable Trust. The trust invests millions of pounds each year into projects, events and initiatives that promote the growth of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and education in Birmingham and the West Midlands. Flagship projects include a fully funded STEM undergraduate scholarship at Birmingham City University and funding STEM projects up to £20k for schools, educators and not-for-profits. When you book an event, you are widening your CSR and helping us to give back to local communities.

Start planning your next event today

Get in touch with our friendly events team today for a no-strings chat about your next event.

On the phone

You can chat to our friendly events team between 8am – 5:30pm every weekday on 0121 202 2200.

Online

Fill out our quick enquiry form online and a member of our team will get in touch as quickly as possible.

Email

Email our events team at [email protected].

Millennium Point is dedicated to the growth and enhancement of STEM education in Birmingham and the West Midlands. We achieve this through impactful projects such as our fully funded STEM scholarship and STEM grant funding, events, support initiatives and so much more. With British Science Week upon us, we’re here to celebrate with 3 activities you can do with your family at home to celebrate.

What’s British Science Week?
British Science Week is a ten-day celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) that takes place annually around March. This year British Science Week started on 5th March and will continue until this Sunday (14th March) with the theme “Innovating for the Future”. Across the UK schools, parents, teachers and organisations are taking part in a myriad of activities that engage communities in STEM, highlight the importance of STEM in our daily lives and celebrate the achievements and diversity of STEM leaders. You can get involved with activities or events that are already planned via the official website or organise one yourself. The activities in the list below have all been chosen from the free activity packs that are available on their website here.

Crunchy Architecture You Can Eat – (Activity for under 5s)

This activity uses melted chocolate as cement and a variety of different biscuits to get your child to construct buildings or structures which you can all then eat. To start, melt your chocolate in a bowl, either in the microwave or in a bowl on top of a pan of boiling water. Once melted use the chocolate to stick biscuits together to make buildings and structures. When the kids are done with the activity they can then eat their creations. This activity takes about 30 minutes overall. The video below provides a great demonstration of the activity.

(Video Credit: Dennis Fresto)

Kit list

Different shaped biscuits/and or wafers and crackers
Dark chocolate
Bowl, water and saucepan
Baking paper
Hob/Microwave

What does this teach?
This activity teaches children about architectural design – chiefly about how materials can be combined, shaped and measured to form structures. It teaches them to think creatively and innovatively with tools at their disposal. What’s more, you can expand this activity to emphasise the STEM elements by getting them to plan out what they want to make, cut biscuits to size and shape and then reflect on whether the finished product changed from the initial design and why.

This activity is an example of sensory learning where children link their learning to memorable activities and experiences – the messier the better! Sensory learning is a crucial part of early years development as it effectively engages children in activities that activate their brain. This allows them to break down difficult topics, like architectural design, into concepts they can comprehend. They will then be able to refer back to what they’ve learned because they can recall the experience of the activity.

Build a working Waterwheel – (Activity for over 5s)

In this activity, you build a working waterwheel. Use a plate to draw and cut out two circles in a thick card or plasticard to make the wheels of your waterwheel. Find the centre of each wheel and cut a smaller hole wide enough to fit a pencil or wooden doweling. Tape or staple the cups to one of the wheels put the second wheel on top to sandwich the cups and secure by pushing the wooden spoke/pencil through the hole in the centre of both. You can now experiment with dropping water from different heights or with greater force to see how it affects the speed of the weel. You determine the speed of the wheel by marking a point on the wheel and counting the number of rotations within 30 seconds.

(Video credit: Two-Point-Four)

Kit List

Thick card or plasticard
Pen/Pencil
Plate (to use as a template)
Wooden Doweling or a pencil (to spin the wheel)
Disposable cups (choose recyclable!)
Scissors
Adhesive
Bottled water/hose or equivalent to dropping water
Bucket / Washing up bowl (or be outside)

What does this teach?
This experiment has a lot to teach about forces and energy in a fun and engaging way. They will learn about how height, gravity and force impact the wheel by dropping water at different heights and with different degrees of force. This is also a great segway into discussing sustainable energy, like the electricity in your house and how these types of mechanism can be used to create sustainable energy. The waterwheel was used historically to power machinery in Victorian mills, using the force of the water cascading down to generate push and pull forces. Now, a similar wheel mechanism is used to generate sustainable electricity with methods like wind and wave power.

Making hot ice – (Activity for over 5s)

In this activity you will create a substance that is liquid at room temperature and but when disturbed will immediately crystallise to form something known as “hot ice”. This is a really fun experiment that doesn’t require a lot to do but has a real “wow” factor when you see the liquid immediately crystalise. To do it, slowly add 3-4 tablespoons of baking powder to 1 litre of clear vinegar and then leave to boil for 30 minutes. When you see a crust starts to form (white stuff known as sodium acetate anhydrous), scoop a bit out and save then take the liquid off the heat and transfer to a container and cover. Transfer to an ice bath or fridge for 15 minutes or until it drops below room temperature. Once cooled take the lid off, add the sodium acetate anhydrous (white stuff you collected earlier) and watch as the liquid crystalises. When you touch it, it will feel hot, not cold – hence hot ice!

(video credit: Home Science)

Kit List

1 litre clear (not malt) vinegar
4 tbsp baking soda
Steel saucepan
Plastic container
Bucket and ice (if doing an ice bath)

What does this teach?
This activity teaches children about chemical states and reactions. Most substances have a freezing point, where the molecules rearrange from a liquid into a solid or crystal arrangement. Sodium acetate trihydrate, or hot ice, is a supercool liquid, which means even though it’s a liquid at room temperature, the molecules will rearrange into solid form when disturbed (by adding sodium acetate). As the sodium acetate is introduced, the liquid will begin to crystallise and after a few seconds the entire liquid will ‘freeze’. However, if you touch it, the substance will feel hot, not cold, because the process of crystallisation is exothermic. That means that heat is given off, so the liquid turns into a solid.

That’s it for our 3 STEM Activities to Celebrate British Science Week. The activities in the list below have all been chosen from the free activity packs that are available on their website here. We hope you enjoy British Science Week and don’t forget to share your results with us on social media by tagging @millenniumpoint!

Every year, the Millennium Point Charitable Trust gives out grants of up to £20,000 to support science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education projects in the West Midlands. Applications are now open for 2021. Meadows Primary School and Resource Base received a grant in 2020 to transform dilapidated school grounds into an engaging outdoor science area. This is their story.

Who’s running the project?
The Meadows Primary School and Resource Base is a three-form entry primary school in Northfield, Birmingham. The children are aged between four and 11 years with 45% of the pupils being disadvantaged children who receive free school meals and grow up in challenging circumstances. Additionally, 24% of children have Special Educational Needs (SEN) requiring specialist supported learning.

What’s it all about?
The existing woodland area around the school has become run down and unusable due to limited school funding. Apart from a small playground, there are no outdoor areas, such as playing fields, other than this dilapidated area. The grant from Millennium Point Charitable Trust will fund the development of a pond and wildlife area within the school grounds. The objective is to enable the children to immerse themselves in the local environment while learning about biological and life sciences outside of the traditional classroom environment. This will prove especially important for those children with learning difficulties, enabling the school to provide more dynamic lessons using the external spaces to better suit their learning needs. The funds will also help pay for den building kits, wellington boots and all-in-ones for the children – an outlay that many families simply can’t afford.

Who will benefit?
This project will benefit the whole school, including the children in the resource base (which is integrated within the mainstream school), who have speech and language disorders. They sometimes have additional needs such as dyslexia, autism, ADHD, physical difficulties, sensory impairments or social and emotional development.

What they said:
Alex Morris, the school’s science coordinator: “Science is a major part of what we do in every single curriculum and year group, and this project will have a huge impact on the children in our care. Due to the parents’ financial constraints, the children have very limited experiences of habitats beyond their own street. They don’t experience what a lot of children do, like walks in the countryside.

“The grant will enable the children to develop their vocabulary of plants and animals beyond the classroom walls. Developing this project would benefit every year group and vastly impact the children’s progress and attainment.

“Due to home circumstances, many children within the school have mental health problems, so they need a great deal of emotional support, and providing an area for calm reflection when they feel overwhelmed would vastly benefit the children in our care.

“We also hope this project will inspire and encourage the traditionally marginalised groups, such as the children in our resource base, to pursue STEM careers in the future; opening up a range of possibilities and develop the children’s confidence to pursue these careers in the future.”

When’s it all happening?
It is hoped that the wildlife area will be ready in Spring 2021; the pool will be created by the Summer, pandemic restrictions pending.

Can grant funding unlock your STEM project?
There’s still time to apply for funding from the Millennium Point Charitable trust this year. Applications must be submitted by 5 pm on 30th November 2020. To apply for the Millennium Point Charitable Trust Small Grants programme 2021, visit: www.millenniumpoint.org.uk/grants/apply