Ysgol Maesydderwen Finance for Life workshop

It's Wednesday, which means it's time for a new blog post from SPS, and this week is a very exciting one! 

On Monday 3rd November, the Steam Powered Stories team headed to Ysgol Maesydderwen to administer a Finance for Life workshop. The aim of the workshop was to show students how the numeracy skills they learn in school will be eventually used in the workplace, and to do this, we worked alongside local employers for pupils to see first-hand how maths is used in each and every job role. 

On the day we worked with ninety year ten pupils, as the school, and us as an organisation believed this year group would benefit most from our services as they begin to work towards their GCSE's and ultimately their future career choices. 

We organised for four employers, Steam Powered Stories as a fifth employer, to work closely with pupils, to demonstrate how they use maths in their every day job roles. Pupils were split into groups, and worked closely with their classmates and each employer for twenty minutes.

Representatives of Swansea Health Board came along and showed pupils how to answer real everyday maths questions that they have to calculate in their everyday jobs, showing pupils first hand how maths is used in the health industry. 

Stephen Waldron from Stephen Waldron Architecture attended, speaking to students, answering any questions they had, and also showed students how maths is used in his every day job role as an architect, e.g., drawing, calculating dimensions, etc., 

Representatives of the Armed Forces also kindly attended, providing knowledge and experience of the physical job of being a soldier, and how they also use maths in their everyday lives, from ensuring they remain physically able, but also how maths skills is needed in estimating defence tactics. 

Emily Carter as a beauty and health care entrepreneur came along to show students how maths is used in the beauty industry. Emily's Beauty Spa was set up as a hobby, but Emily arrived on the day providing a professional, yet friendly approach to show the year ten students how maths is applied in her business. 

Steam Powered Stories also ran a stand, where pupils played our interactive Who Wants to be a Millionaire game, which consisted of maths questions that advanced in levels as the students progressed in the game. Students thrived in working together to work out the answers, and we gained very positive feedback from pupils who provided their feedback of our stand. 

In addition to the pupils working alongside employers, students were also taught how to use mind maps to help with revision, and to ultimately help them achieve their goals, and their dream career! 

Generally, the day was successful, as our aim to prove that maths is used in every job role was achieved. Every pupil whether they were aspired by Stephen Waldron, Emily Carter, or the members of the Armed forces left school knowing that maths is applied in each job profession. 

Thanks for reading! 

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