Loreto Grammar School’s ground-breaking STEM team has won the North of England and Scotland’s Enthuse Award for the quality of its continuing professional development in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths teaching.
The teachers and technicians from the Altrincham school now go to the grand finals as part of a winning quartet of Northern schools competing for the national title.
Victoria Sims, Loreto’s head of maths and computing, said the secret to the success of applying their CPD in the classroom was “to catch the girls early, engage them as soon as they come into the school and give them a passion for the range and challenge of all the subjects”.
She added: “In Year 7 we do a nine-week rotation of design technology, engineering and computing to engage their young minds and then in Years 8 and 9 we teach STEM as a curriculum subject.
“Thankfully we feel it is now finally accepted that girls are just as good as boys at STEM subjects and to suggest anything else is absolute nonsense.”
Among their party will be Churchill Fellow and Loreto Grammar School’s STEM coordinator, Elaine Manton, who won the North of England and Scotland’s individual award for STEM teachers.
Elaine said: “It’s very much about placing academic theory into a real life context and getting leaders from industry to talk to the girls and show how the skills they learn in class today will be critical to the future workforce and that as the country’s future entrepreneurs and innovators they will be the ones to drive forward our economy.”
