Community Story: The Darwin Centre
"The fund has really enabled us to delve deeper into the T in STEM. Our TechTastic workshops give pupils a broad understanding of the importance of coding, its applications and its history whilst allowing their creativity to flow and become inventors for the day."
Today we are in Pembrokeshire, in the first of our profiles of groups that benefitted from the recent Community Matters Fund ((STEM Educational Support) from National Grid. Our Head of Communications Luke Upton, caught up with Sam Williams from the Darwin Centre to learn how they are helping kids in West Wales become super excited by the varied world of STEM.
Luke Upton (LU): Thanks for the time today, could you give us a little introduction to the work of The Darwin Centre and the community in which you serve?
Sam Williams (SW): No worries Luke, the Darwin Centre ( @darwincentre ) is a STEM based educational charity, aiming to open up access to STEM subjects for the young people of Pembrokeshire through free hand on field trips and workshops with links to a range of experts and work-related experiences. We cover a vast range of themes from marine biology through to black holes; working with local schools, community groups, families and the scouting association.
LU: Great, so what’s been your focus in recent years?
SW: We’ve really focussed on diversifying our sessions to further complement the new curriculum for Wales. We have continued to build and maintain partnerships with other providers in the county to ensure that we complement and not duplicate, often teaming up with other organisations to give the pupils the best possible experience. With schools’ topics now being so varied and pupil led we have seen an increase in requests for bespoke sessions to enhance and assist teaching staff in their delivery.
LU: You’ve just received funding from the Community Matters Fund from National Grid. Can you tell us some more about the project it helped find and what it aims to deliver.
SW: The fund has really enabled us to delve deeper into the T in STEM. Our TechTastic workshops give pupils a broad understanding of the importance of coding, its applications and its history whilst allowing their creativity to flow and become inventors for the day. By using Scratch and MakeyMakey’s they create their own musical drawings, or make drum kits out of play-doh and learn about the properties of a range of materials through testing their conductive and insulating abilities. Each participating class also received their own MakeyMakey so that they could use the resources created over the course of the project to continue their coding journey.
LU: Sounds brilliant! So, how important is the support you’ve received from Localgiving and National Grid?
SW: Very important! As a small charity with only two full time employees, grants such as this one from the National Grid via Localgiving are essential to our viability, especially ones that can fund some staff time as well as the resources needed for the project. We rely on grants to fund specific projects, allowing us to keep all sessions free so that no costs are passed on to the schools or the pupils participating ensuring access for all regardless of economic status. Thank you!
LU: We are delighted to help. As we always ask our interviewees, funding aside, what would most help you in 2024?
SW: Over the course of 2024 we would love to grow our following on social media to showcase some of the amazing sessions and the fantastic people we work with in Pembrokeshire to encourage those schools that we have not worked with recently to get in touch and book a field trip and workshop. Looking forward a year as well, since 2005 our core sponsors and partners have been Dragon LNG, their support has been unprecedented and we look forward to celebrating our 20th year in 2025 with some exciting plans in the pipeline.
LU: Brilliant! Come on – get on your social media accounts and give them a follow!