Akrotiri village school students were visited by the RAF Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) Team last week to provide them with free lessons in these key subjects.
The students, aged seven to 12, were thrilled to take part, with teachers and the parent’s committee president delighted to see the children given the opportunity.
This was another great initiative to strengthen the links with the local community, whilst giving children the opportunity to learn about STEM for the first time.
Warrant Officer Melanie Patterson from the RAF STEM Team stressed the importance of these lessons and said: “As a highly skilled technical service, the RAF recognises the importance of high-quality youth STEM engagement as a critical component of growing the future workforce.
“Our role is to engage and inspire a future generation and we do this through delivery of a multi layered Youth STEM engagement programme to young people.”
One of the excited nine-year-old students said: “This is my second STEM lesson and I feel very excited, because I had no idea you can instruct a robot to do things via a tablet. It’s also amazing that you can build something; for example, a vehicle with your own hands and even add lights to it.
“I loved the experience and would advise other children my age to try it too.”
Akrotiri Primary School Head Teacher, Kyriakos Orphanou, expressed his gratitude for the students being given the opportunity and stressed the good cooperation between the school, the community, and the Bases.
He said: “We are very happy to host the RAF STEM Team at our school. It is a unique experience both for the students and for us teachers since they cultivate and develop skills that students are required to have in the 21st century.
“Through STEM lessons, children have the opportunity to experiment, test assumptions and variables and successfully apply theory with practice. In a changing world, such innovations promoted by our school are especially beneficial.”
Speaking on behalf of the school’s teachers, he added: “We thank the British Bases for giving us the opportunity to attend this program for free and look forward to future innovative actions and collaboration.”