29 July 2015
Baroness Estelle Morris, Chair of the Oldham Education and Skills Commission and Cllr Shoab Akhtar, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills
Dear Lady Morris and Cllr Akhtar,
Teen Tech – Manchester April 2016 – an exciting opportunity for Oldham pupils and tech industries
At the Local Government Association conference held earlier this month, I was privileged to be able to attend a workshop hosted by Maggie Philbin, formerly a presenter of the BBC’s Tomorrow’s World programme, about her exciting Teen Tech initiative.
Teen Tech is an award-winning, industry-led initiative, founded in 2008 by Maggie Philbin and Chris Dodson; to help young teenagers see the wide range of career possibilities in the STEM industries (i.e. relating to science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
Teen Tech hosts innovative events at venues across the UK. At each event 300 to 500 pupils from 30 to 50 different schools are able to participate in hands-on exhibits and challenges run by leading organisations.
Teen Tech works collaboratively with companies, universities, business organisations and education business partnerships to create these very special experiences for young people.
The organisation also runs an annual awards scheme with the winners being helped by an industry leader, to turn their innovative ideas into practical applications.
Following the workshop, I contacted Maggie Philbin’s office, initially to explore the possibility of holding one of these events in Oldham at our Regional Science Centre. However, because of reasons around the project’s capacity and cost, the former being limited and the latter being substantial (£30,000); I was dissuaded of this idea.
Instead an offer was made to me – that Oldham schools participate in, and Oldham tech industries help deliver, an event already planned to be hosted by the University of Manchester in April 2016.
Teen Tech intends to establish a Steering Group to take place in the Autumn for this event.
We have been kindly invited to have representation on this group and Teen Tech has asked me to help identify some key local contacts in education, industry and economic development willing to serve on the group.
Given that Oldham is home to our Regional Science Centre, Ferranti and foremost science television presenter Professor Brian Cox, and given our aspiration to create highly skilled, highly paid jobs for our local workforce, a chance to participate in a local Teen Tech event represents a tremendous opportunity for our young people to experience the potential of a career in the STEM industries and for our local tech industries to showcase their innovation.
I am therefore writing to you to request a meeting so that we can all discuss how to take forward this exciting opportunity.
Yours sincerely
Howard Sykes