SATRO is an established educational charity working across South Central England working with schools and partnering with employees to bring inspirational learning to students of all abilities and backgrounds.
They have three key areas of focus: STEM Education, Vocational Construction and Employability and Skills Development. All areas of their work directly involve employers in the development of real-world scenarios and careers understanding, including the involvement of staff as volunteers in delivery. SATRO’s work is important in supporting the need to adapt learning for the future, inspire the next generation and address a skills shortage.
“This changing environment calls for a transformation in how we think about learning. Young people must ‘learn to learn’ to develop the abilities required to gain new skills and adapt, which will help them secure work opportunities.”
SATRO Research Work Placements Programme matches Year 12 A-Level students with companies and research organisations in the summer to undertake a short research project. The project should be of benefit to both the organisation and the student as part of a real-world aspect of the work that the organisation does. It’s a great opportunity for companies to investigate new areas or research in further depth topics that they might not have the resources to do internally and to gain a fresh perspective.
Earlier this year, COINS’ Business Development Director, Richard Vale, supported the SATRO summer project, asking the students to present on the subject: ‘Can new technologies enable the UK Government’s aspirational targets for the annual volume of new homes to be built? (Moving from circa 200k per annum to 300k+)’ Richard was impressed with both of the students’ contribution, particularly in relation to their age.
“We thoroughly enjoyed working with Richard Vale over the summer as he supported two students Asmita and Yuvathi with the project. We sat in on several sessions with Richard and the students and it was lovely to see their knowledge and confidence grow as they learnt more about the project. They carried out research, came up with ideas and then learnt how to present these findings on a virtual basis.”
One of the students showed their appreciation for Richard’s involvement:
“This experience has truly been phenomenal, and I would do it all over again. I loved researching a multitude of technologies that could be implemented in the UK to increase the number of homes being built every year. For example, a technology I explored was robotics warm construction, developed by a research group at Harvard University, where simple robots in large numbers built a design rapidly, safely, and cost-effectively. I found this fascinating as with no central control, a single point of failure did not exist, meaning it is very reliable. Some of the skills I gained included research, presentation, organisation, and communication skills. I am grateful to SATRO for this invaluable opportunity, and I would like to say a massive thank you to Richard Vale from COINS and SATRO for guiding me throughout the project. I would recommend this to anyone like me, looking to complete a research project with the guidance of industry experts and meet new people who are just as interested as you are.” - Yuvathi
This summer SATRO had over 100 applicants and are always looking for new companies to join them in in spiring the next STEM generation in Surrey. Email satro-rwp@satro.org.uk for more information.