Sir Robin Saxby, the first CEO of Arm, was joined by Ama Frimpong, The Institute of Engineering and Technology’s Young Woman in Engineering 2022, as they led an assembly at Little Thurrock Primary School in Essex last week where they talked about STEAM, career opportunities, finding your passion and engaging more females in the industry.
The visit was a collaboration between Archives of IT (AIT) and Sir Robin, whose generous support and funding has enabled AIT to inspire future technologists and create eight bespoke lesson plans (so far) that make learning about technology more engaging for primary school students.
Dispel fears to succeed
It was Sir Robin’s second visit to Little Thurrock, with the first being in November 2023, and he told more the 90 students who were preparing for secondary school: “As human beings we are connected to each other with different skills and we all have to be inspired by something. And if you can dispel your fears you’ll have a better chance of succeeding.”
He also told AIT: “With the pressures of the world what we are trying to do is give to the young students a broader perspective of the opportunities around science, engineering, maths and art and to try and find their passions and give them hope.”
So much more to science and technology
Ama, Head of Product Development for 52 North Health Ltd, which develops cutting-edge healthcare technologies, is an engineer and also a passionate role model for young girls across the UK, and gave a talk on Women in the Real World of Engineering and told the students:
“What I want to help you envisage is that there is so much more to science technology that meets the eye. What I want to show you is that whatever you love and whatever you are interested in you can continue to find a career path and pursue that as you go into secondary school.”
She said the visit was extremely enjoyable and worthwhile: “The children were very engaged, lots of questions and interaction and we were able to show them that we are all human regardless of where we are from, who we are and where we want to go in life.”
As part of the assembly, videographer, Ben Marlow, one half of Ben and Jack’s Studio recorded the talks, including his own about perfecting your craft, overcoming setbacks and building resilience.
Ravi Chagger, who is Trust Assistant Head Teacher at Osborne Co-operative Academy Trust (which Little Thurrock is part of) and IT Consultant at AIT said the assembly’s aim was to focus on STEAM but put a creative twist on it.
This resulted in Ravi talking about his hobby as a DJ, Ama on her passion for singing and Sir Robin on creating a band. Sir Robin also sang one of his songs to the students and danced with Ama.
Ravi told the students how failure was not the the opposite of success but was part of it and is the first attempt at learning. He also told them how just 16% of women work in the field of engineering in the UK and opened up discussions on how the skills all of the children pocessed could be applied to their future careers.
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