INSPIRATIONAL lessons and extra-curricular activities at Great Sankey High School are helping to inspire their girls with record numbers participating in their Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) club.
Nationally statistics show that only 12% of engineering graduates are women, and in the UK just 2% of girls take physics A-level.
But at Great Sankey teachers have used creative methods to enthrall all students but have found their twitter feed @PhysicsFish and their weekly videos about what happens at STEM club have led to a real increase in girls taking part – with girls now outnumbering boys at the weekly club.
Headteacher Paula Crawley said: “We are delighted that our girls are seeing beyond gender stereotypes. We have an excellent track record in supporting our girls into STEM careers and STEM courses at University and the enthusiasm shown by our younger students should mean that our girls will take over!”
Nationally there have been numerous initiatives to try and persuade girls to look at STEM that have had varying degrees of success but a combination of innovative teachers and a staff comprising of a number of female Science and Technology teachers giving those role models is having a marked effect in the
Great Sankey school.
The school also has a number of links with major engineering companies and has the only school based RAC training centre in the country where students are trained in automotive engineering giving all students access to first class careers advice and guidance.
Great Sankey High School is holding a Sixth Form open evening on November 12th.
