Saints Peter & Paul Catholic College

What is STEM?

STEM is the marrying together of science, technology, engineering and maths. Our STEM based curriculum centres on developing confident, collaborative students who are able to solve problems, take

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Meet the STEM team

STEM Lead coordinator: Mrs S Williams
STEM Science: Mr Mulvaney and Miss Chan
STEM Business: Mr Ashton
STEM Maths: Mr O'Rourke and Miss Folan
STEM DT: Miss Scott
Employability and CEIAG: Mr Mullarkey
External College Employer Enterprise Adviser: Dan Jones

If you require further information regarding STEM at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic College please contact a member of the department in person or email: STEM@saintspeterandpaul.halton.sch.uk

Upcoming Events

Tuesday 21 November - Engineering presentation

Friday 2 February 2018 - Launch of FARM URBAN Aquaponics project

Thursday 22 February 2018 - STEM Careers Fair

Mondays in Business Studies after College - School Enterprise

Thursdays after College in Science - Science club and BIG BANG Club

Thursdays in Technology - RHS Green Plant Challenge

Half term 2: Year 8 STEM project in Complimentary Studies

Half term 3: Year 7 STEM Maths and careers project in Complimentary Studies

Latest News

STEM Careers Fair Success

On Tuesday 26th March around 20 local colleges, universities and companies joined us at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic College for a careers fair with a focus on STEM subjects. There was an extremely good turn out with around 300 students and parents coming to look around stalls and attend talks from our colleagues at ‘Shaping Futures’. Students were able to speak to local colleges Cronton, Riverside and Carmel about the courses they offer for sixth form and what subjects or grades they would need to be successful in their applications. As previously mentioned there were specialised talks given from ‘Shaping Futures’ they gave information on entering further education, student finance and apprenticeships; our students commented on how useful the talks were as they had limited knowledge on these areas, especially apprenticeships, so we added an extra talk about this on at the end of the evening. All of the companies commented on how curious and interested our students were and what a credit to the college they were.

Hoping we made a lasting impression on the students and gave them an insight to what their future could look like! our students were and what a credit to the college they were. They were hugely excited to work with us again in future projects so watch this space! WE have been offered a number of site visits and further opportunities for interactions from the companies, colleges and universities!

See you all again next year!

Tatton Park Garden Show - Schools Competition Before the summer break eight of our young horticulturists designed a beautiful garden inspired by Paul Nash for the RHS Tatton Park 2018 schools competition. Saints Peter and Paul Catholic College came 2nd place in their first year of competing missing out on 1st place by a single point. The Wonky Garden who supported the students with their project commented how talented and dedicated our students were. Many spectators at the RHS Tatton Park Garden Show said that the garden designed by our students was intricate, inspirational and undoubtedly worthy of 1st place. Well done to the students involved and Miss Scott from the STEM team who put in a huge amount of effort. Mrs Williams STEM Lead
STEM: School Enterprise Christmas Sales In the month leading up to Christmas, six Year 7 students and 1 Year 9 student showed great entrepreneurial skills within the STEM school enterprise team. The group was aiming for a target net profit of £110 bringing their first product to the market. The students with the help of the College’s Technology Technician - Mrs Keating, manufactured over 100 products and over £150 revenue – smashing their target! The product that the team decided to manufacture and sell were personalised Christmas baubles and the baubles were sold to teaching staff at the College. The baubles that were sold to staff allowed staff to personalise them through a message of their own choice (e.g. Merry Christmas James) on a colour bauble and with a colour and style of font of their choice. Staff were able to purchase these at £2 per bauble with special offers for bulk purchases. Students developed more than just manufacturing skills whilst being entrepreneurial for this project as they used effective promotions to ensure staff were aware of the baubles as well as clever pricing strategies to ensure staff purchased the baubles here rather than from M&S and other competitors (£8 plus a bauble). They also worked on their innovation skills to ensure these baubles stood out compared to similar priced baubles in stores by making them personalised. Students will be reinvesting their profits into their next product launch which will be before Easter. They will also be re-launching these baubles next Christmas where they will be available to the wider audience of parents and students. Watch this space.
Green Plan it Competition Launch Day On Wednesday 27 September we went to Manchester’s Whitworth Art Gallery to participate in the Green Plan It Challenge. Firstly after arriving to the venue, we went into the hall and an expert gardener gave use some ideas and an introduction. After that we grouped up with our Mentors; our team mentors are called Lindsay and Holly. Once we were all grouped up we had two tasks to do before lunch, the science and the art option. With the science we had to find out which of the seeds were poisonous with the different clues we had. With the art task we had to make flowers or plants with the crafty objects we had. After lunch, we had a tour of the Gardens with the rest of the schools and learnt about what time of the year some plants bloom and the facts about them. Sadly after that it was time to go home but before that we took some group photos! It was a really fun day and we were able to learn a lot about what we had to do for the challenge. We are very excited to get started. Written by; Charlotte Gregory - Year 8
Oxford University Visit On Wednesday 7 June twelve most able female students from Year 10 visited Oxford University to explore an insightful world of science and computing. Throughout the day they endured a series of intellectual sessions based around artificial intelligence, quantum theory/mechanics and computational linguistics. All sessions were designed to motivate and intrigue young females into wanting to fulfill scientific careers, making them aware of the multiple job opportunities presented to the younger generation of female students.
MSC Project Science and Technology Day Last half term, 12 of our Year 9 students participated in the MCS Projects Science and Technology Challenge Day that took part at Liverpool John Moores University. During the day our students were paired up with students from other schools and were set a series of challenge activities designed to introduce and test them on different Science and Technology areas. The students participated in different challenges each designed to test the students’ higher level thinking, team work and leadership skills. The challenge activities involved: • Robotics – They were asked to build and program a robot to navigate a series of obstacles. • E-FIT – They were asked to use commercial E-FIT software to create an image of a ‘criminal’, in the same way police do. • Vehicle – They were asked to design, build and then race a simple electric vehicle. Though there were no wins, all students were a credit to the College, they were engaged and actively participated in each challenge they were set. All students and staff thoroughly enjoyed the day! Miss Chan (Science department) Year 9 Visit Liverpool Hope University On 28 June, 20 girls from Year 9 had an exciting trip to Liverpool Hope University. The girls all have an interest in science and maths and enjoyed the day in those departments at the university. They spent time with the lecturers and even enjoyed some robots and virtual reality equipment. They had a tour of the university and listened to a lecture on student finance which helped them to realise that university is a possibility for anybody! The girls were desperate to stay longer to talk to the lecturers and students at the university so much so that they invited the lecturers in to school next year! Watch this space!