STEM Blog

Go4SET is a UK wide educational programme allowing secondary school pupils to work with organisations to address issues of sustainability and engineering/science awareness.

School teams from Greater Glasgow attended The University of Strathclyde on Friday 2^nd March to compete in the Go4SET Celebration and Assessment Day (CAD).  The judges selected Dumbarton Academy as the winner of the Best Overall Project Award for their outstanding work on the use of biomass as a source of renewable energy and the team were presented with a trophy and a cheque for £250 by Martin Grey from Viridor. The team will now go forward to the Go4SET Scottish Final which will be held in the Scottish Parliament in May.

Dumbarton Constituency MSP, Jackie Baillie said:“I would like to offer my congratulations to the pupils of Dumbarton Academy for being awarded the Best Overall Project at the Go4SET Celebration and Assessment Day.  Programmes such as this provide an excellent opportunity for young people to explore the fields of engineering and science in a fun and engaging way.  It is great that Dumbarton Academy was supported by Aggreko, a local employer with a global reputation. I wish the pupils all the very best at the Final in May at the Scottish Parliament.

The CAD event and awards were sponsored by Viridor and Martin Grey, Scottish Communications Manager commented; from wind farms to waste management, how we create a sustainable Scotland is rightly the subject of intense debate.  As Scotland’s leading recycling, renewable energy and sustainable waste partner working with 96% of local authorities that is a debate we are keen to encourage.  It’s for that reason we are delighted to support the Go4SET programme across Scotland, challenging young people to think about their environment and future.  “Like Viridor, young people are committed to their environment and conscious of how they utilise resources.  The standard of entries was again very high and I congratulate the young people on their work.  With talented young people like those who took part today, Scotland’s future is sure to be bright.”

Dumbarton Academy were supported by Aggreko Manufacturing during the project and their mentor Sophie Mason commented “It has been a privilege working with the team, each member has worked incredibly hard and has developed throughout the process so far. They really worked well together as a team and it was wonderful seeing them win on the day. I was very impressed with the level of awareness they had of environmental issues and the solutions they came up with.

The Go4SET biomass project began at the launch event in November 2011 and the teams of six 12 to 14 year olds (S2) continued to work with their teacher and mentors from industry on the challenging 10-week project.  They were tasked to research a biomass fuelled renewable electricity and heat plant for their school and provide a written report on their findings, produce a model and display these at the celebration event.

At the event the students demonstrated their individual projects and models to a group of assessors and discussed their projects with guests attending the event. The other award winners at the event were Cathkin High School supported by TATA Steel who won the Innovation Award and a cheque for £250, King’s Park Secondary School  supported by Sciencesoft who won the Best Team Work Award and a cheque for £250 and St Luke’s High School supported by William Tracey who won the Students Choice Award and a cheque for £100.

Duncan McSporran, EDT Director for Scotland commented “This dynamic and innovative curriculum based programme has proved to significantly change the perception of young people on careers and opportunities within science and engineering industries.”