Last month we held the official launch of Mid Sussex Science Week 2023. The onboarding meetings are for schools and business representatives to meet face-to-face, find out who they would be paired with for the duration of the programme and meet other people involved with the week. Phil Todd Chairman of MSSW welcomed attendees at the beginning of each meeting and thanked Edwards Vacuum in Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath College for providing us with their facilities.

Phil spoke about how MSSW started 8 years ago with other likeminded individuals, who saw a gap in STEM opportunities for children of primary school age. Being able to continue putting on such events like MSSW is all down to the continued support of businesses and the individuals representing them. Without them it would not be possible to secure Science Week on our calendars year on year and reinforces how we can empower the young into STEM as a profession.

Richard Cox was representing BHBPA which is a community focussed group of local businesses from Burgess Hill and he is also a member of the MSSW committee.

Burgess Hill

Carl Morphew of BSE|FM Limited shared his experiences as a STEM Ambassador since 2018 and how rewarding engaging with students can be and their infectious enthusiasm is encouraging.

Haywards Heath

There were several STEM Ambassadors in attendance. Darren Coomber of BSEFM Ltd offered an insight into projects he has helped schools produce over previous shows and how being a STEM Ambassador is gratifying for him to be able to see the benefits of inspiring children.

The STEMHub community was also represented by Peter Sutton of Canterbury Christ Church University. They provide a networking base for businesses and individuals aiming to inspire the next generation.

During the meeting we were again delighted that Mims Davies, Member of Parliament for Mid Sussex attended. Mims is a keen advocate of the promotion of STEM in the younger generation and girls in particular.

STEM Ambassador / school pairing for Burgess Hill was kindly provided by Richard Cox.

Mims Davies and Phil Todd drew pairings in Haywards Heath.

We would like to thank all our businesses for taking part in MSSW 2023 without them and our sponsors these events wouldn’t be able to be put on.

Further details will be sent to all schools and businesses in due course, please keep an eye on your emails.

With science week fast approaching, the organising committee are in the process of coordinating preparations for the culmination of activities on the final day. 

Our Stem Ambassadors have already been designated their schools and should be liaising with them in order to arrange visiting them and discussing their project ideas and designs. 

The judges have also made themselves available on the day,  they have a variety of backgrounds to enable the judging process to be a fair as possible. Our thanks to the StemHub for helping and those to whom we have again called upon again to assist. 

This event would not be possible without the aid of many individuals including support from local businesses, council members and back ground staff. 

The final day begins with the presentation of each schools project to the judging committee. We have also secured STEM activities which are being provided by local businesses during the morning for the students to partake in, but we don’t want to give too much away now, you’ll have to come back afterwards for our full report. 

After lunch, I will be inviting Minister for Employment Mims Davies and Richard Cox from Burgess Hill Business Parks Association to present a selection awards.  STEMHub are also donating books to the overall winning school, these books tell stories to inspire the next generation of engineers and scientists and each student will receive a certificate of attendance.

For the finale and once presentations have finished the children will be provided with a professional childrens science show containing many wonders for them to ‘wow’ over.

We are looking forward to the first Burgess Hill science week and hope our schools enjoy themselves. 

Philip Todd

Chairman

MSSW

chair@midsussexscience.org