As part of our longstanding partnership with Girlguiding UK, Amey is proud to support the first ever Adventures at Home Festival this Saturday 23rd May.
The festival promises an exciting programme of STEM activities for girls of all ages and their families to enjoy, during this challenging period where, due to Covid-19, many Girlguiding plans have been cancelled or postponed.
Amey will be supporting the event with an interactive class on how to make a birdfeeder from recycled materials.
The Girlguiding UK Adventures at Home Festival already has over 10,000 people registered to attend and is open for everyone to enjoy via the Girlguiding UK website and YouTube channel.
The programme for the day includes a host of special celebrity guests and speakers, sports activities, arts and crafts, and story-telling, as well as classes and activities aimed at challenging girls to trying something new. It is hoped that events like this will encourage more girls to pursue STEM subjects at school and careers in science and technical fields in later life.
Speaking ahead of the event, Girlguiding UK’s Chief Guide, Amanda Medler, said: “This virtual festival is our way of saying thank you to all young people and their families for the part they are playing during these challenging times. We have a fantastic line-up for the day with something for all ages and hope it will help lift spirits this bank holiday weekend and give children and young people with their families a chance to join in the adventure with us, from the safety of their own homes.”
Sarah Hale, Amey’s Business Manager and representative at the festival, added: “We are extremely excited to be involved in Girlguiding’s first ever Virtual Festival to help engage and develop the skills of young girls. Our partnership with Girlguiding is all about raising awareness of STEM education for young girls, both locally and nationally to inspire more girls to be part of our future talent pipelines. Recent figures show that just 9% of engineers in the UK are women and we hope events like this will change perceptions surrounding engineering careers and create a more gender equal sector in future.”
Amey has long championed the issue of gender diversity in the infrastructure and engineering sector, with a variety of programmes and campaigns aimed at breaking down stereotypes at school age and supporting women in the workplace. Amey’s partnership with Girlguiding is a cornerstone of our diversity strategy and it plays an important part in inspiring the next generation of female engineers into our sector and our business.
In 2018, Amey and Girlguiding collaborated to create the UK’s first ever Engineering Badge, with a focus on rail, road, innovation, safety, diversity and inclusion. In its first year, the badge received over 120,000 requests nationally.
For more information on the festival please visit: www.girlguiding.org.uk/adventures-at-home-festival
For information on Amey’s Engineering Badge, visit: https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/about-us/our-partners-and-supporters/amey/