Kelso: Two-thousand pupils explore the appliance of science

Scottish Borders Council’s (SBC) Inspire Learning Festival took place at Springwood Park, with more than 1,200 Primary 6 pupils and 1,200 S2 pupils from across the region coming together to take part in an exciting series of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) focused learning activities.

The three-day festival, hosted by the multi-award winning Inspire Learning team, showcased the best of technology in education.

P6 children were welcomed on day one of the festival, with S2 pupils joining on day two.

Over the two days, young people took part in inspiring activities and demonstrations from industry leading partners, including CGI, XMA, Borders College, My World of Work, Developing Young Workforce Borders, UK Motorsports with Greenpower Race Cars, Jim Clark Trust, Eric Liddle Foundation, Data Science form Edinburgh University, Simpson Malt, Go Construct, Borders Technical Training Association, Scottish Football Association and Plexus.

More than 100 S5 and S6 pupils from Kelso High School attended on day three of the event for a morning session which focused on digital and STEM careers, with the afternoon providing an opportunity for educators to meet and discuss digital skills in education and business, with representatives from across the UK.

Lesley Munro, SBC’s director of education and children’s services, said: “The Inspire Learning Festival is a fabulous event giving primary and secondary pupils from across the Borders the opportunity to enjoy a high quality digital learning experience, with exciting STEM workshops from industry leading partners enabling them to further develop their digital skills and learning.

“Digital technology is something SBC have embedded in education through Inspire Learning, and it’s important for pupils to see how what they learn in the classroom plays out in the real world. The aim is for this day to be a really inspiring day, and I think that’s exactly what it has been.”