Team Repair workshops empower over 150 Somerset college students with inexperienced expertise

The outcomes are in from the Council’s Team Repair workshops – and so they’re inspiring!

A challenge to get Somerset’s younger folks studying restore expertise, funded by Somerset Council and SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK by way of the SW:EEP neighborhood fund, has proven that 40% of the younger folks stated they had been extra more likely to restore one thing sooner or later and academics rated the programme 10 out of 10.

For most of the individuals this was their first time repairing one thing.

Team Repair have highlighted the success of restore workshops delivered in Somerset colleges and youth teams earlier this yr. Tackling a throwaway mindset head-on by educating sensible and problem-solving expertise, suggestions from the younger folks confirmed how a lot they loved studying these inexperienced expertise in a hands-on workshop:

A crew member stated:

I cherished how after we’ve carried out it we may use it and have enjoyable.

Cllr Richard Wilkins, Executive Member for Transport and Waste Services, stated:

It’s sensible to see how Team Repair helps younger folks throughout Somerset construct confidence and expertise that can final a lifetime.

By studying tips on how to repair on a regular basis actual life devices, they’re not solely creating their technical data but in addition discovering the worth in reuse and restore.

We’re proud to assist a programme that’s inspiring the following era of problem-solvers and inexperienced thinkers.

These workshops are a robust technique to scale back digital waste and spark curiosity in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and sustainability from an early age.

The 12-week Team Repair programme reached over 150 kids throughout 5 colleges and 1 youth group in Somerset. Students aged 10–14 discovered to restore on a regular basis devices together with microscopes, sport consoles, torches, and remote-control automobiles. The initiative goals to scale back digital waste and spark curiosity in STEM careers.

• 300 devices repaired
• 5 colleges and 1 youth group participated, together with a bunch working with SEN college students
• 6 academics and educators skilled to ship the programme
• 40% of scholars reported being extra more likely to restore sooner or later
• 37% confirmed elevated curiosity in science or tech careers
• 35% expressed better curiosity in environmentally pleasant jobs
• 38% of scholars skilled their first-ever restore exercise

Matthew Canning, Contract Director of Somerset at SUEZ, stated:

This has been a fantastic challenge to assist. The outcomes of the work that the colleges have carried out with Team Repair is an excellent and we hope that it’s serving to kids perceive our imaginative and prescient of residing in a world the place there isn’t any extra waste.

Green expertise are important for the way forward for the round financial system and serving to kids be taught restore expertise is a very necessary a part of this.

Team Repair do such an unimaginable job of constructing this accessible for the youthful era and we had been eager to assist this.

Educators praised the assist from Team Repair and the programme’s affect on college students.

One instructor shared:

The classes had been completely unimaginable! The kids discovered a lot and felt like they had been studying actual life expertise. This must be rolled out to all colleges!

The programme’s success was echoed in suggestions from all collaborating academics, who unanimously expressed curiosity in operating the programme once more and rated it 10 out of 10 for recommending to different colleges.

The Team Repair classes had been funded from Somerset Council and SUEZ’s joint SW:EEP fund. This makes use of ring-fenced revenue from the sale of recyclable supplies to assist initiatives that scale back waste and profit the neighborhood.

Electronic waste is without doubt one of the largest contributors to local weather change. Every yr 103,000 tonnes of e-waste is thrown away within the UK – the equal to eight.5 million microwaves.