The National Space Academy and the Ashington Learning Partnership have joined forces to create a UK first in space education.The Ashington Learning Partnership, a unique Educational Trust supporting over 3,000 students across five schools in South East Northumberland, has been selected by the National Space Academy, a division of the National Space Centre in Leicester, to become a hub for space education in the North of England.
In the coming months, the Ashington Learning Partnership will welcome pupils of all ages from schools across the region to take part in exciting and inspiring STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Maths) Master-classes, using space as a context for learning.
Trevor Swann, director of strategy and standards for the Ashington Learning Partnership, said: “Going as far back to the work of Lord Armstrong in his astronomical observatory at Cragside and Charles Parsons’ production of optical equipment for telescopes at his Heaton factory, the North East has a rich space engineering heritage.
“The Ashington Learning Partnership is keen to build on that heritage by using the theme of space education to drive up standards and improvement in school performance not only for our Trust, but other local schools in the region.
“We are the first organisation to become a ‘Schools Hub’ for the National Space Academy in the UK and we are delighted that our Trust has secured a formal agreement with a prestigious national partner which demonstrates the expertise and commitment we have to make a real success of our new space education hub status.”
Subject leader of Physics at Ashington High School, Ben Windass, will take on an additional role as a lead educator on behalf of the National Space Academy, educating learners and teaching staff on how the space industry can be used as inspiration to promote classroom progress in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM).
Anu Ojha, director of space education and space communications at the National Space Centre in Leicester, said: “Our vision for the National Space Academy education programme is to materially enhance the size and quality of the UK science and engineering skills pool in young people through a high quality network of educational providers.
“We are delighted to be able to announce this extremely significant strategic development for us in the North East through our new learning venture with the Ashington Learning Partnership and the National Space Academy.
“We know Ashington High School celebrated its best ever GCSE and A-Level results this Summer and Bothal Middle is amongst the top performing 100 schools in the UK for sustained improvement in level 4 performance, so for us to formalise links with an organisation that has a strong track record of academic excellence and a burgeoning reputation in STEM provision, was a natural fit.
“We are incredibly excited by what this partnership will mean for our outreach work in the North East as a region and the ability to work with students and teachers from Tyneside throughout Northumberland and potentially as far North as the Scottish borders.”
The Ashington Learning Partnership was established in 2007 and comprises of two First Schools, Central First and Wansbeck with primary learners to Year 4, two Middle Schools Bothal and Hirst Park with primary and secondary learners to Year 8 and Ashington High School with secondary learners up to Year 13.
The Trust has a strong track record for delivering innovative Enterprise and STEM provision for its pupils through the strong, mutually beneficial links it has with a variety of local, regional and national organisations to design an innovative, relevant and challenging curriculum for its learners.
For more information on the National Space Academy programme in the North East please visit, http://nationalspaceacademy.org or email Andy Gaskell, director of enterprise and vocational studies at the Ashington Learning Partnership. Email: Andrew.Gaskell@northumerland.gov.uk