Helping to find Leeds's budding scientists

The primary school children from schools across the city spent a week of study and activities focussed on STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and maths – during five days of concentrated learning.

The course was designed and delivered by national charity IntoUniversity, supported by engineering consultancy Mott MacDonald, a global company which has an office in Leeds.The school children, aged between seven and 11, had sessions on chemistry and maths and also learned about the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme, designed to protect homes and businesses along the Aire Valley after the devastating Boxing Day floods in 2015.

As well as studying how the £50m scheme operates, the children were taken to the site to see the works at first hand.

IntoUniversity runs after-school learning centres in inner-city communities, with bases set up in Harehills in 2014 and Beeston in 2015. They work with young people from primary school through to sixth form and help ensure they stay on track with their studies.

“It was a great week,” said Charlotte Matless, Centre Leader at IntoUniversity South Leeds in Beeston.

“It was fun and informative – and it was brilliant for the children to see how science is being applied practically to tackle a major problem for our city.

“When you get a ten-year- old student saying that when she grows up she hopes to be an environmental consultant, you know it has been a big success.”