Dudgeon STEM Programme awards

2024

In January 2024 grants were awarded to the following organisations:

Alderman Peel High School runs an F24 Greenpower Kit Car after-school club, and the grant will enable the school to repurpose an existing building to store the kit cars and become a safe working place for both teams. The purchase of a further Greenpower Kit Car will also enable the school, and the STEM club students, to share its STEM activities with local primary school children.

Hethersett Academy is working with STEM Learning to hold a Design and Technology Conference at the University of East Anglia in July 2024 to help teachers consider how best to implement STEM into their curriculum.

The Ogden Trust will use the grant to support eight students from Norfolk participating in its annual Coastal Energy Internship Programme; two students will undertake their internships at the Equinor O&M Hub, with the Ogden Trust also working with Equinor’s wider supply chain to provide the other six internship places.

Sheringham Museum will design and construct a dedicated space within the museum to deliver sessions for school groups, focusing on KS1 and KS2, which explore topics across the curriculum including STEM, language and history.


2023

In May 2023, the following grants were awarded for STEM projects and initiatives to be delivered during the 2023/24 academic year:

Action Community Enterprise will work with 3 schools in Great Yarmouth to engage students in STEM.

Cliff Park Ormiston Academy in Gorleston on Sea will establish a weekly after-school boat building club.

Dereham Neatherd High School will continue running its Design School programme, targeting students who have not previously engaged with the programme.

East Norfolk Sixth Form College will be creating a sustainability network to bring together students to collaborate on issues they care about.

East of England Energy Group will work with 6th form students to design a 2 hour lesson for 14-16 years olds, linking hydrogen production to careers.

Jon Egging Trust will use the grant to support its Blue Skies experimental learning programme at the Nicholas Hammond Academy in Swaffham.

Litcham Secondary School will introduce virtual reality headsets into its science curriculum.

Sheringham High School will continue to run its Lego Robotics Club, with students seeking to compete in the Robotex International Festival in Estonia.

STEMPOINT will be running workshops in renewable energy focusing on wind power in 3 schools, seeking to deliver these workshops to a total of 750 students.

The Forum Trust will hold a satellite version of the Norwich Science Festival at East Norfolk College in Gorleston on Sea.

The final grant was awarded to The Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association to support its new STEMM Village initiative at the 2023 Royal Norfolk Show.


In January 2023 the Dudgeon Community Fund introduced a new pilot funding opportunity – the Dudgeon STEM Skills and Employability Fund. It is aimed at supporting groups of younger people, aged 30 years and under, in the Great Yarmouth, North Norfolk and Breckland regions of Norfolk to achieve their STEM skills and employability aspirations.

In March 2023 grants were awarded to seven innovative projects:

Action Community Enterprise CIC Limited: to work with schools in Great Yarmouth to engage students in STEM

City College Norwich: to contribute to the cost of setting up a tree nursery and wild flower meadow at Easton College

CREA Norfolk CIC: to provide an entry route into STEM subjects and interests through creative media

East Coast College: to create and deliver a new clean energy teaching resource in partnership with Getech

GYROS: to establish its Aspirations Group within its Great Yarmouth Community Café

Norfolk Citizens Advice: to establish a pilot project in Great Yarmouth which seeks to support young people with sustainable employment outcomes

Wastesmiths CIC: to co-ordinate the co-delivery of 30 workshops throughout the year, covering different focuses within STEM

2022

In July 2022grants were awarded to seven schools and colleges for projects to be delivered during the 2022/23 academic year starting in September 2022.

Dereham Neatherd High School will continue to run the out of hours Design School project.

A programme around carbon literacy will be delivered to five high schools in Great Yarmouth and North Norfolk by East Coast College.

East Norfolk Sixth Form College will deliver engineering and medical imaging workshops to Key Stage 3 students from schools within the project area.

Working with Year 8 pupils, the East of England Energy Group will deliver a Young Energisers Programme in 10 schools.

The grant to Great Yarmouth Charter Academy will help fund the development of an Engineering Hub within the school.

Northgate High School will use its grant funding to facilitate a number of STEM activities for Key Stage 3-5 students; these will include trips, entry to STEM related competitions and awards and the purchase of equipment for the school STEM club.

Sheringham High School will use its grant to continue to run the STEM Lego Robotics competition for its students from years 8 and 9 and for students from Stalham High School and Alderman Peel High School.

2020/21

During 2020/21 the Dudgeon Community Fund provided grant funding to the Norfolk Community Foundation’s COVID-19 initiative, specifically in the Great Yarmouth and Necton areas of Norfolk, and to the Every Child Online programme to ensure over 6,000 young people in Norfolk had the technology for successful home learning while schools had to be closed during the pandemic.

2019

In 2019 grant funding was continued for the projects being delivered by Neatherd High School, Sheringham High School and the STEM Coordination Hub. In addition, five new grants were awarded in June 2019 with most of these projects commencing during the 2019 Autumn term.

Cambridge Science Centre will provide Pop-Up Science Centres in two secondary schools in each of the Great Yarmouth, North Norfolk and Breckland districts of Norfolk. Each of the participating secondary schools will be encouraged to invite pupils and teachers from the surrounding junior schools to visit these pop-up events, the themes of which are based around electricity and engineering and include a ‘Power Up!’ workshop and an ‘All Charged Up’ show.

Cromer Academy Trust is undertaking an initiative to highlight careers and their role models within the STEM sector, aiming to inspire students to consider the career opportunities offered by this sector in Norfolk and further afield. The project involves a wide range of activities; these include the establishment of an extensive STEM library as well as the formation of a weekly STEM club where the first project is to understand flight and to design and build a drone using the school’s 3D software and 3D printers.

East Norfolk 6th Form College will deliver three practical workshops across school years 7 -11 in chemistry, programming/coding and electronic engineering to high schools in Great Yarmouth.

Teacher Scientist Network is a science education charity which strives to enhance science education in ways which bring the science and education communities together. It will deliver a series of four STEM workshops to year 9 and 10 students in 10 schools in the Great Yarmouth, North Norfolk and Breckland districts of Norfolk.

V3 Power is an organisation which promotes DIY sustainable energy technologies through education. It will work with 10 schools in Norfolk, four in the first year and six in the second year, to deliver a project using model wind turbine kits to explore the science behind sustainable energy generation.

2018

The first grants associated with the Dudgeon STEM Programme were awarded in early 2018, with the first five projects including:

Neatherd High School in Dereham will run an out of hours school-based Community Design School formed on the ‘Maker Shed’ principle. 6 STEM Design School projects will run weekly for 120 Key Stage 3 pupils (11-14 year olds) and their parents/carers.

The Mason Trust will deliver 6 interactive Renewable Energy Days to 6 schools in Great Yarmouth and Breckland, targeting students in school years 9 -11. These Renewable Energy Days will include the latest floating wind turbine designs, with presentations and a practical challenge to build a floating wind turbine.

Greenpower will work with 10 secondary schools in Great Yarmouth, North Norfolk and Breckland whose pupils will design, build and race a single seat electric car, competing in the inter-school challenge at Scottow Enterprise Park. Local employers will be encouraged to provide a range of student opportunities for site visits and skills workshops. It is anticipated that between 150 -200 students per year will be involved in this project.

Sheringham High School will run a programme of robotics development moving towards an international robotics completion to take place in Tallinn in Estonia. The programme will be run as an after school or lunchtime STEM club activity, and with Sheringham High School encouraging as many North Norfolk schools as possible to take part, the participation of over 250 students is anticipated.

STEM Coordination Hub Norfolk is already a hub for engineering and technology supporting the energy sector, and the STEM Coordination Hub will initially be piloted in the Great Yarmouth, North Norfolk and Breckland districts of Norfolk. It aims to make the most of what is already available, whilst identifying and plugging the gaps and finding new ways to enhance STEM education.