The ERA is delighted to announce that years David Clark Prize will go to Cath Milne from Avoch Primary School for Primary Schools and Rebecca Lofthouse from Skipton Girls’ High School for Secondary Schools.
The prize recognises those that have gone beyond what is required in the teaching syllabus and have been able to demonstrate a strong track record of showcasing real-world engineering to students while inspiring them. Both Cath and Rebecca have demonstrated an extraordinary vision for engineering and a high level of creativity in shaping their work with young people.
Alongside Cath and Rebecca the ERA Foundation also recognised Jacqui Sandbach from Lancaster Girls’ Grammar School as a runner up to the Clark Prize for Secondary Schools for her passion in promoting engineering vocations to girls and young women, and encouraging them to be successful whilst engaging in inspiring STEM activities and events. Jacqui intends to use her award for the purchase of a laser cutter and a 3D printer to support the GCSE Engineering and Design Technology classes.
This year we received an excellent set of applications for the Prize. The selection process was particularly challenging as the calibre of entries across the board was extremely high and our panel found all to be genuinely inspirational. We want to thank you who took the time to make an application. It is inspiring to see such dedication and hard work and we hope all candidates will continue their excellent work and consider applying again in the future.
The awards were presented by David Clark at the ERA Foundation Annual Dinner and Lecture yesterday, 17th May 2022.
Cath Milne
Cath has brought engineering to life in her classrooms at Avoch Primary School. Cath is well known at Avoch for the support she has provided to colleagues and her work in delivery of lessons, and organising STEM activities at the school and in the local Associated School Group (ASG) of 7 primary schools.
Cath is planning to use the Clark Award prize money to benefit a large number of children across the school and we have no doubt she will provide excellent engineering and STEM experiences. She is currently looking to use the funding to provide –
- ‘Engineering’ kits’ that can be used by all ages in the school for hands on projects.
- Training to improve on areas knowledge of complex Engineering subjects like coding and an intensive residential CPD at the York STEM centre
- Development of new projects and resources for students around hydraulics and pneumatics.
- Training and development for staff in the school and ASG.
- Trips to industries give students real life context to the STEM experiences, including potentially organising a trip to the Large Hadron Collider in CERN
Rebecca Lofthouse
Rebecca has worked incredible hard in engaging and developing students’ aspirations and access to high quality STEM experiences, going beyond the core curriculum.
The prize will help her further develop the ‘Engineers of the Future’ programme which she leads. This will including additional building materials, equipment to explore the storage and generation of electricity, architectural consultancy and allowing support from technicians and staff.
In future the funding will allow Rebecca and the team at Skipton Girls’ High School to expand ‘Engineers of the Future’ reach to a wider number of students with future projects looking at Kinetic Floors and onsite Energy Production lead by students.
