Pupils and staff at St Swithun’s School, Winchester are gearing up for MESTival, a unique festival organised by staff on 6 July, which will attract over 1,000 students and teachers from primary and secondary schools across Hampshire. MESTival is the first festival of its kind, providing young people with a thought-provoking and inspiring insight into STEM subjects.
MESTival features an exciting speakers’ programme, hands-on workshops and activities, as well as a STEMzone where MESTivalgoers can discover more about STEM-related courses, careers and products from visiting companies and universities.
MESTival speakers will include BBC science presenter, comedian and entertainer Helen Arney, television presenter and author Stefan Gates, Jon Macey, senior lecturer in Computer Animation from the University of Bournemouth, Dr Chris Budd, Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Bath and Eleanor Schofield, conservation manager for the Tudor warship Mary Rose in Portsmouth.
A programme of STEMinars will offer presentations and advice from a large number of other speakers. In addition MESTival visitors will be able to experience displays and exhibitions by Rolls Royce, IBM, the British Army, the Royal Navy, Jaguar Land Rover, Vodafone, The Prudential, Hampshire Police and many, many more in the STEMzone.
Stephen Power, head of mathematics at St Swithun’s and one of the organisers of MESTival, is hugely excited about the day: “MESTival will be a fantastic day, inspiring children from schools across Hampshire to think about STEM subjects in a new light. We are delighted to have so many high profile speakers and exhibitors attending the event who will demonstrate how studying STEM subjects can lead to a much broader range of careers and industries than perhaps children currently perceive.”
