Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! We hope you had a lovely Christmas, and a fantastic new year. 

For those who received our Christmas Activity Packs, we hope your child enjoyed completing the pack, and managed to develop their maths skills as a result. If your child loved or hated our pack, we would appreciate if you could let us know your feedback so we can develop our services. Simply email us and let us know what you and your child thought of our pack, our email address is steampoweredstories.janro@gmail.com

So, 2015 has arrived, and here at Steam Powered Stories, we have a packed schedule of events, workshops, and new and exciting projects to adminsister! Below are some of the workshops we will be running over the next couple of months-

09/01/2015- Finance for Life Workshop in Ysgol Maesydderwen 

16/01/2015- Dragons Den Workshop in Powys PRU 

04/02/2015- Maths Fun Day in Dwr-Y-Felin Comprehensive School 

04/03/2015- Dragons Den Workshop in Ysgol Maesydderwen 

23/03/2015- Peer Mentoring Project in Dwr-Y-Felin Comprehensive School 

27/03/2015- Finance for Life Workshop in Ysgol Dewi Saint 

We also have two new and exciting projects to tell you about- 

1)  Story Telling Project: 

Our Story Telling Project is funded by GwirVol and is a scheme that develops and delivers innovative, engaging, and fun literary workshops for children ages 7-11. The scheme aims to improve literary standards across South Wales, and the project will run throughout Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, and Rhondda Cynon Taff. We will be reporting more on this scheme in the coming months, so stay tuned! 

2) Free Educational Outreach Programme: 

 We are honoured to be working on behalf of Techniquest to deliver their 'Educational Outreach Programme- Let's talk Maths & Physics' in Mid and South West Wales.  

The programme offers a range of challenge workshops that are designed to encourage students studying Maths and Science in secondary education. The workshop activities will include, 'Maths Matters', that comprises of a number of videos that show how maths is used in a real world context, 'Backstage Challenge' where students organise a series of concerts across Wales, and the 'Solving problems with Physics' workshop that focuses on how physics is used in various sectors to solve problems. 

If you would like to work together with us on our Educational Outreach Programme, feel free to contact us today to express your interest and find out how you can get involved. 

We are thoroughly excited to be working on behalf of Techniquest and we cannot wait to get started! 

If you have any questions about our new projects, or just simply want to know more about the What you say COUNTS! scheme, feel free to call Hayley or Emily today on 01685 872385! 

Thanks for reading! 

Steam Powered Stories Newsletter

Happy Wednesday! 

This is the last Steam Powered Stories blog post of 2014, and to say thank you for supporting us in our journey of changing attitudes towards maths so far, we are giving you two early Christmas presents! 

Your first present is our Steam Powered Stories newsletter that we are sending to anyone that requests it. 

The newsletter contains information about the projects we have administered throughout the latter half of 2014, technological advancements, social media developments, and a thanks to all our supporters. 

Below is a sneaky preview of the newsletter that you can request by simply filling in our contact form on the left hand side of the blog, stating that you would like to receive our newsletter. 

Your second present is that we are giving away FREE Christmas Activity Packs and Learning Activity Packs, and all you have to do to receive our pack is like us on Facebook, then tell us in the contact form (on the left hand side of our blog) what pack you would like. 

We are giving away both packs up until 19th December, so if you would like both packs simply let us know in the contact form on the left hand side of the blog. 

Don't forget to let us know in the contact form that you have liked us on Facebook when you request your pack! 

Lastly, we would like to say thanks to all our followers, and our readers that religiously read our blog every Wednesday. 

Your support really means the world to us, and we can't wait to continue changing attitudes towards numeracy with you in 2015. 

Do you want a FREE Christmas Activity Pack?

Christmas is nearly upon us, and today, we are giving away FREE Christmas Activity Packs to keep your children occupied as they count down the days until Santa arrives. 

The pack subsists of various worksheets of maths activities so your child can have fun and still learn. Varying in difficulty, the worksheets will challenge your child, but will also encourage them to strive to be the best they can possibly be. 

If you're child enjoys working through our Christmas pack, you can also request our FREE Learning Activity packs that is filled with maths activities and fun worksheets for your child to complete. 

To request your FREE Christmas Pack, or our Learning Activity Pack today, simply fill in the contact form on the left hand side of the blog. Or if you want to request both the Christmas and Learning Activity packs, let us know when filling in the contact form.

Don't forget to look back over our previous blog posts, especially our '5 ways in which' posts that consider how maths is used in various job roles, and last week's post so you can stay up-to-date with the What you say COUNTS scheme. 

Thanks for reading! 

December Catch Up!

Here at SPS, we can't believe December has arrived. We're only three days in to December and we're already counting down the days until the big day! Are you counting too?

Our post today, titled, 'December Catch Up' is just to sum up what we've been doing in the past couple of weeks, and what is to come for the What you say COUNTS! project. 

Croeserw CEC's Christmas Craft Fayre 

Yesterday, Emily and Hayley attended Croeserw CEC's Christmas Craft Fayre to promote the WYSC scheme, and raise awareness of what we do as an organisation. The day was very successful, and Hayley and Emily thoroughly enjoyed promoting the scheme in the area. 

Developing our services 

We mentioned in an earlier post that we are in the process of working with students of the University of South Wales to develop our services.

 The students have worked closely with us to not only analyse our services to improve them, but they are also in the process of creating and developing new services for us too e.g., creating a maths app, moodle, flash service. 

We are very excited to incorporate the new advancements into our workshops! 

Evaluation results

We posted a few weeks ago about our Finance for Life workshop that we ran in Ysgol Maessyderwen, and today we'd like to share some of the results we received from the pupils that took part. 

As you can see from the table below, 37 pupils claimed that our workshop changed the way they considered maths, with 38 pupils stating that the Finance for Life workshop helped develop their understanding of maths. 

This is exactly what we aimed to achieve. Our workshops strive to change attitudes towards maths, and our ultimate aim is to get 100% positive feedback from students, and we are working hard to attain this result! 

We have more maths workshops booked for 2015 with various schools around Wales, and we can't wait to deliver our services, and change attitudes! 

Have you seen the Education Begins at Home tv advert? 

As you know from our aim, (which is to change attitudes towards maths) we believe that education does begin at home. If a parent states "I can't do maths" in front of their child, their child will begin to adopt the same belief, consequently not being able to achieve the results they deserve in life. 

Below is the Education Begins at Home advert. By clicking the image you can watch the advert now. 

Let us know in the comment box below what you think of the advert! 

If you want to change your child's attitudes towards maths, do it today and request a FREE LEARNING ACTIVITY PACK that is filled with both maths and Christmas work sheets! Simply fill in the contact form on the left hand side of the blog, (remember to state your child's age). 

'5 ways in which' series 

Have you read our previous blog posts that feature 5 ways in which maths is used in various jobs? Below are the links to a few of our '5 ways in which' blog posts so you can strive to attain your dream job! 

Beauty industry- http://steampoweredstories-janro.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/5-ways-in-which-maths-is-used-in-beauty.html 

Fashion- http://steampoweredstories-janro.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/5-ways-that-maths-is-used-in-fashion.html 

Hairdressing- http://steampoweredstories-janro.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/hairdressers-need-maths-too.html 

Sports- http://steampoweredstories-janro.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/did-you-know-that-maths-is-used-in-sport.html

Thanks for reading! 

5 ways in which maths is used in the beauty industry

Happy Wednesday! 

Our blog post last week focused on our 'Finance for Life' workshop that we administered in Ysgol Maesydderwen. The workshop was very successful, and after evaluating the feedback we received from the year ten pupils that took part, we discovered that a high percentage of Ysgol Maesydderwen pupils dreamt of having a career in the beauty industry after being inspired by Emily Carter, a beauty entrepreneur, who came along to the event to share her experience of how she created her own beauty spa when she was just 18 years old! 

During the workshop, Emily Carter worked alongside pupils to show them how maths is used in the beauty industry, answering any questions pupils may have had, ultimately encouraging them to strive for their goals. 

So today we would like to continue our '5 ways in which' blog series, and show you the 5 ways in which maths is used in the beauty industry. 

1) So you want to run your own beauty salon? 

Ok, so you want to run your own beauty salon, but have you considered how much it will cost to run your business and gain a profit? Most beauticians will begin their business by renting a room in a hairdressers, this way the beautician can share clientèle and gain a profit in the process. However, for beauticians that are hired and placed on a contract that states  that the beautician must work for example, five days a week 8am-6pm, but the beautician will only get paid for two of the five days work, is it really worth working this way if you are not gaining a large enough profit? 

You may also consider starting your own mobile salon. If you do consider this option, you will need also need to calculate if you are making enough money to make a profit at all, e.g., if you are spending £7 travelling to your client, are you going to make a profit if your client only wants a treatment that costs £5? 
Just by considering where and how many hours you will work, you will need to use your maths skills to calculate your profit and loss margins. 

2) Are you good at time keeping?

 Running any business demands good time keeping. It is imperative that a successful beautician schedules their appointments properly; they may need to add extra minutes onto each scheduled appointment so they can ensure they meet their clients's needs. e.g., if they have an appointment at 10:30am and the appointment lasts for 1 hour, if they have scheduled an appointment for 11am, they would be overlapping the sessions, and could potentially be losing clients and money in the process. I bet you didn't even realise that keeping track of time requires you to use your maths skills! 

3) Timing with dye and patch tests 

Any beautician will know that it is very important to conduct appropriate tests to ensure your services are suitable for your client. The patch test assures that the client is not allergic to any dye you will be using, e.g., eyebrow tinting. After applying a patch test, you will have to wait a minimum of 24 hours before performing the treatment otherwise there could be serious consequences for the client's health, and your business's credibility. If you have performed the treatment without doing a patch test properly and the client was extremely ill as a result, your business insurance would be void, therefore you would be losing money and business in the process. 

3. Do you want to sell your own products in your beauty spa?

Emily Carter sells her own handmade candles, bath products, and skin treatments, but before she can begin selling her products, she needs to buy her produce for the best price possible. Once the produce has been bought, the production process begins which involves carefully measuring out ingredients to ensure she is making the products correctly and not wasting her produce. To make sure her products are worth making and selling, Emily also has to calculate how many products she will need to sell to make a profit. 
Emily Carter proved during our 'Finance for Life' workshop that it really is about correct calculations to ensure you make it in the beauty industry!

(Products sold by Emily's Beauty Spa- www.facebook.com/emilysbeautyspa) 

4) Do you have the funds to buy the equipment you need? 

Salon equipment is expensive to buy, and to ensure you can get the best equipment for an affordable price, you will need to work out how much each piece of equipment will cost, in comparison to how much it will be used. You may also have to consider if you have enough funds to buy a wider variety of equipment to be able to conduct more treatments, to suit a variety of skin tones, hair colours etc., Once you have bought your equipment, you will have to use your maths skills to calculate how much you are going to charge on each treatment to make a profit- is it worth investing in?

5) Makeup? 

Whether you decide to run a mobile business, or open your own salon, you may consider offering make-up services, widening your clientèle, resulting in a larger earning. To ensure you provide a professional make-up service, you will have to buy a large makeup set including brushes, foundations, eyeshadows, lipsticks, and make-up removers, that will have to suit all skin shades, and skin types. To ensure you make a profit, you will need to consider the cost of buying makeup, and if you can afford to replace the make-up on a regular basis. You will also need to calculate how much you are going to cost for your make-up services, for example, you could offer a package that could cater to all members of the bridal party. You will therefore have to use your maths skills to consider pricing, and profit and loss. 

(Photos of Emily's makeup looks, found on www.facebook.com/emilysbeautyspa) 

So there you have it, our 5 ways that maths is used in the beauty industry!

Thanks for reading, and a special thanks to Emily Carter for letting us use her photographs to supplement the blog today (don't forget to also check out Emily's Beauty Spa FB page) 

Head back to this blog next Wednesday for a brand new blog post! 

P.S. We are still giving away FREE Learning Activity Packs, simply fill in the contact form on the left hand side of the blog, stating the age of your child and we'll send the pack direct to your email. 

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! 

Stay tuned for more from SPS next Wednesday on this blog, but head over to our Facebook and Twitter pages to stay up to date with us daily. 

(Facebook.com/SteamPoweredStories) 

(Twitter.com/SteamStories) 

Do you want to be a pilot?

Happy Wednesday! 

Today's post features a very exciting news story involving Virgin Atlantic Airlines! 

( Photo found on http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-29824064 ) 

Continue reading the main story

Virgin Atlantic is looking for six trainee pilots with no flying experience to take part on an 18 month programme with Southampton CTC Aviation.  

The six recruits will be take part in pre-flight training, flight simulation, and flight training in Phoenix, Arizona.

So let's get down to business. Have you got- 

1) A minimum of five GCSEs or equivalent including maths, science and English.

2) £109,000 as a bond that you would later receive back when you start work? 

This is the opportunity of lifetime for those that are seriously considering becoming a pilot, but £109,000 is excessive, and unattainable for many of us, but in sharing this exciting news, we hoped to prove further that maths is used in every job role-  

Did you notice in point one, that MATHS GCSE IS NEEDED to even be accepted to do the training, proving that if you want to be a pilot, or as we have proved previously if you want to do any job you need maths skills! 

 So if your ambition is to become a pilot, gaining at least 5 GCSE's including Maths is vital to you attaining your dream! 

To set you on your journey of becoming a pilot, below is the link to the Corbett Maths Non-Calculator paper for you to try.

https://corbettmaths.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/higher-set-a-non-calculator-model-solutions.pdf

As always, thanks for reading!
Don't forget to like us on Facebook.com/SteamPoweredStories, Follow us @SteamStories, and to head back here next Wednesday for another Steam Powered Stories blog post.