Member Article

Northumberland STEM centre opens following Rio Tinto money

The latest stage in a £65,000 initiative to revive the region’s engineering heritage has been unveiled at a Northumberland high school thanks to a donation from Rio Tinto.

A state of the art STEM Suite has been opened at Ashington High School, enabling a holistic approach to the teaching of science, technology, engineering and maths.

Joanne Hannay, regional economic development assistant at Rio Tinto said: “This is a fantastic new facility and I’m sure it’s going to stimulate interest in these key subjects amongst the students and adult learners who study here.”

The new suite complements the STEM Laboratory that Rio Tinto has previously funded at neighbouring Bothal Middle School. Both schools form part of the Ashington Learning Partnership along with Hirst Park Middle, Wansbeck First and Central First. The partnership was established in 2007 and now supports more than 3,000 students.

Nicole Sergeant is on secondment to the Ashington Learning Partnership from the University of Northumbria and she is tasked with co-ordinating STEM teaching across the five schools. “STEM subjects are critical to any student’s future almost irrespective of their career plans but it’s especially important we reinvigorate teaching methods in this region in order to build on our pioneering engineering heritage. Ashington Learning Partnership is extremely grateful to Rio Tinto for a donation which will bring benefits to so many local people for years to come,” said Nicole.

Ashington Learning Partnership was the first recipient of a donation from Rio Tinto’s legacy fund, set up after the closure of the Lynemouth Smelter in March 2012. Since then, the fund has donated more than £500,000 to 14 local good causes.

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