Skysmart STEM and Aviation Day Ignites Scouts’ Curiosity in Aviation Pathways – Air League
See a video of this superb day
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Another report about the event – Thaxted Air Scouts take part in Duxford aviation weekend | Essex County News
Pupils from Wimbish Primary Academy and The Meadow Primary School, part of Anglian Learning, tested their piloting skills with aflight simulator experience led by alocal aviation heritage trust.
The two computersimulators are based on the WW1 SE5a fighter plane used by the British Armed Forces during World War One. Pupils put on the VR headset which is programmed with missions ‘Scout’ pilots would have accomplished during the war.
Also included in the day’s activities was a quiz led by Cllr Stewart Luck, who donated the experience to the two schools as part of the Uttlesford District Council Youth Initiatives Working Group.
Stewart said, “From my first interaction with the academy to the event day, the teachers, staff, and pupils were truly outstanding. We had an incredible time, made new friends, and built connections that I believe will inspire collaboration and the sharing of skills in the future”.
Chris Steadman, Senior Class Teacher of Wimbish Primary Academy, said “All pupilshad a fabulous day and learnt so much from the visitors from The Aviation Heritage Trust. The VR experience was amazing, and the historical background was enriching and informative for all”.
30 Pupils from The Meadow Primary School, who partner with Wimbish Primary Academy under their Executive Headteacher, Nichola Pickford, were also invited to take part in the activities.
Nichola said “We are incredibly thankful to Cllr Stewart Luck for providing this unique opportunity for our pupils. Experiencing history firsthand helps our pupils to understand the past and boosts their engagement and love of learning. Both our staff and pupils have been inspired by the STEM activity and are thankful for the time given by the heritage trust to answer any questions.”
In the afternoon, pupils took part in an art session, capturing what they had learnt during the activity within their artwork.
The WW1 Aviation Heritage Trust is a registered charity set up to provide an enduring flying collection of World War I Allied and German aeroplanes. Their goal is the education of current and future generations as testimony to the aircrews of the Great War, their planes, and their sacrifice.
To find out more about the heritage trust, please visit: https://ww1aviationheritagetrust.co.uk/
To find out more about Wimbish Primary Academy, please visit: https://wimbishprimary.org/
To find out more about The Meadow Primary School, please visit: https://meadowprimary.org/
The recent 56 (Woolwich) squadron Air Cadets do was a success, supported by the Honourable Company of Air pilots, the Lampmongers, and YES, who presented certificates of merit to many of the cadets. Some cadets had undertaken gliding courses and subsequently written about their week long experience at a gliding club in the Peak District.
A four-part course specially designed for disabled children to get a fascinating and exciting introduction to aviation and to boost everyday skills test as teamwork and organisation. The programme is run by Aerobility staff and volunteers and will give a participant both aviation knowledge on the ground and a test of their flying skills at the controls of a real aircraft.
You will learn about topics such as principles of flight, how to talk over a radio, what airfields need to be safe and how to navigate your aircraft through the skies. You will also then have the opportunity to put the theory into practice through multiple flights at the controls of one of our aircraft.
Disabled individuals from the ages of 12-18.
Applications for the 2024 Junior Aspiring Pilots Programme are now open!
The next course will take place in Spring 2024. Please see the application form for further details.
Nope! The course is free to attend.
The ground school and the flying is at Aerobility HQ, Blackbushe Airport, Hampshire.
The WW1 Aviation Heritage Trust has now started an 18-month journey visiting 50+ Primary Schools in Essex with our Simulator – thanks to a grant from the CAA’s Reach For the Sky Initiative. One hundred and thirty-seven schools applied for the WW1 AHT day visit so we hope this will become an enduring feature. The Programme is to encourage and inform Years 5 and 6 about careers in aviation. It is important that they understand the origins of the flying machine and it how it surged into the front pages over a hundred years ago in World War 1.
This is exactly what the Trust is doing by visiting the Schools with their WW1 Flight Simulator. The Pupils are all motivated by the prospect of a flight in a simulator designed in 1915 based on WW1 SE5a fighter with a VR game that includes all the missions available to a Scout pilot as they were known back in the day.
While not in the Sim, they either take part in a quiz about the life and times of the simulator’s designer, Major Lanoe Hawker VC DSO RFC, or take part in poetry writing workshop based on the Great War which culminates in each of them writing a poem on seeded paper as a part of another of our initiatives – Poems, Poppies, and Planes.
Our plan is to drop more than 3000 poems from our Nieuport 17 (Poetry Plane) over appropriate sites in N France in Jul 2024 where they will be collected and planted by the French children as an act of remembrance and reconciliation. The British, French and German Memorial Flowers (Poppy, Cornflower, and Forget-me-Not) are the seeds in the paper. It is our hope for the Poetry Plane to bring some of the overseas poems back to England in due course.
We are delighted with the progress so far. We have visited 9 schools since March and over 400 children have flown WW1 missions in our simulator, completed the quiz, and written poems about WW1. Sam Dunne, the Headteacher at Colne Engaine Primary School, wrote after our visit:
I would just like to say another big thank you for the wonderful opportunity the children had today. The whole session was so very well organised, and the children have been talking about it all afternoon. They thoroughly enjoyed learning the history in class and then experiencing the simulator. We are full swing with some wonderful poetry too.
Opportunities like today are those golden moments, moments that make children aspirational about their futures and know more about the endless opportunities there are out there for the taking. Who knows we may have another aviation enthusiast joining you or seeking out a new interest!
Thank you for bringing your knowledge and enthusiasm to our little school and of course being part of such a brilliant STEM opportunity.
The poetry-writing is not restricted to England (Essex, Surrey, Cornwall, & Hampshire) but children from France, Germany and New Zealand are being invited to participate. A small team of 8 WW1 AHT volunteers are giving freely of their time. Each visit involves 3 members of the Team for 6 hours on site – 1500 hours of volunteering. The Programme would not be possible without the Twins, Ant and Ed, who drive the Simulator to each location and ensure its safe operation during each visit.
If you want to know more, please contact dick.forsythe@ww1aviationheritagetrust.co.uk
For the Teacher:
What is the poetry plane? It’s a Nieuport 17 replica biplane from WW1 and will take off from England with its special cargo of poems to be fluttered from the sky in July 2024 over North France where The First World War was fought.
The poems, written by schoolchildren (that’s your class!) and inspired by themes connected to the First World War, will be delivered in such a way to French counterparts who in turn will write their own poems to be flown back in the spirit of friendship. The works, written on seeded bio-degradable paper allow the poems to grow into poppies, symbolizing peace in commemoration of WW1.
This Lesson plan will provide some videos and photos about WW1, a short video on writing a WW1 poem, and the leave it to you as to how organise up to 4 sessions for every class of 20 not on the simulator. Reading the examples below out loud may help and I suggest the children are asked in return to read their efforts out loud before they are taken away in the plane to France.
The Powerpoint presentation Poems, Poppies and Planes is set up as a slide show and lasts 7 minutes. It should be shown first. You may wish to have Barber’s Adagio for Strings playing in the background.
We recommend that you show the children Simon Mole’s video on writing a WW1 Poem next and base the lesson on it.The trailer from Peter Jackson’s ‘They shall not grow old’ also gives good atmospherics as 100 year old film that has been digitised, coloured and voiced over from lip-readers.
We will bring A7 size sheets of bio-degradable paper with poppy seeds attached. You should ask the children to put their name and school on the back. We will offer a small prize for the poem that you judge is the best from the school.
A report from the success of the above event:
Stewart, Ed and Ant have just spent the day with my Year 5 class at St. Joseph the Worker Primary School in Brentwood.
Stewart and his team of aviation experts were great with the children and helped them to get the best out of their day. All of the children loved experiencing the flight simulator and really enjoyed flying in a WW1 plane. All of the teachers also had a go and found it to be very fun!
Stewart was fantastic with the children and was happy to talk to them about their potential futures in the aviation field. He was also happy to answer any questions about his career as a pilot. The content in the powerpoint presentations was a great foundation for learning, and we will be adding the days experience into our History, Computing and Science Curriculum maps, and asking Stuart and his team to come back next year. The children also loved writing their emotive poems and competing in the art competition. A truly wonderful day for all involved.
Thank you,
Rhys Town
Class 5 Teacher
St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Primary School
The event brought together some of our regular contributors and some completely new contacts. The outreach from this event should be our best ever and we certainly lowered the average age of those in the room that day.
The Royal Aero Club Trust, as part of its Flying for Youth programme administers a Bursary Scheme for young people.
25 bursaries were offered in 2022 and the lucky recipients were able to start training before Easter. Bursaries include:
A number of additional bursaries worth up to £500 each to suitable candidates were also granted. No applications were received in 2022 from balloon pilots and microlight pilots who are encouraged to apply for future bursaries.
Bursaries must be used in the year they are granted.
The scheme is divided into four categories of Bursaries:
Click the link below to apply for 2023! Closing date for applicants is 31st March 2023
If you know of any youngsters who would be interested in aviation then take them along to Cosford to meet some inspirational people and have a FUN day out.
ITS FREE!
YES now have some speakers confirmed for the Cosford Conference and can reveal these are the major players as far as youngsters are concerned. They are able to offer encourgement and advice about all aviation matters from cradle to grave so to speak.
With 2m high security fences surrounding airfields nowadays any information as to how to get closer to aircraft with the owner or clubs permission is very useful to budding Young Aviators. Speakers at the Conference will at a fast pace cover careers information and give details of scholarships and bursaries available to enhance Education and the acquisition of appropriate skills to follow the individuals dreams.
Registered to attend so far are
AEROBILITY, The Royal Aeronautical Society, The Royal Aero Club charitable Trust, The Air League, Cosford Museum, British Model Flying Assoc’. LAA Struts, other charities.
Past attendees of these YES events have made positive comments about the opportunities to network especially over the lunch.
Registration is still open by e mailing Stewart Luck.
In Mid February a final agenda and joining instructions will be e mailed to those who have registered.
Further information about how the BIG DAY Out is shaping up will be published soon on this website.
The Royal Aero Club Trust, as part of its Flying for Youth programme administers a Bursary Scheme for young people.
25 bursaries were offered in 2022 and the lucky recipients were able to start training before Easter. Bursaries include:
A number of additional bursaries worth up to £500 each to suitable candidates were also granted. No applications were received in 2022 from balloon pilots and microlight pilots who are encouraged to apply for future bursaries.
Bursaries must be used in the year they are granted.
The scheme is divided into four categories of Bursaries:
Click the link below to apply for 2023! Closing date for applicants is 31st March 2023
LAA and YES member, Andy Webb, who is also a Director of Skysmart recently took part as an expert witness in an enquiry into post 16+ education and opportunities.
The enquiry was instigated by Robert Halflon MP for Harlow and can be watched at the link below. The result of the enquiry will be available in a few months.
Skysmart, like many companies, are having difficulties in finding young recruits to fill vacancies who are able to cope and complete an Apprenticeship. In the broadcast you can hear various SME’s debate the problems with MP’s and the CBI representative:
https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/8ca2f0d3-231b-48d0-bbb8-bdd0fa46bf91
Over 80 Light Aircraft Association members are heading to the biggest fly-in in the world – Oshkosh 2022, starting Monday 25th July.
Find out more about Oshkosh, here:
May 24th, 2022
Join us to hear about the incredible biodiversity at Bodmin Airfield with Jay Gates
Where do you think you’d find over 170 different plant species, including three species of Orchid- the Chelsea Flower Show? A nature reserve? Well, no, actually- a small private Airfield in the centre of Cornwall!
From a chance encounter with Ian Bennallick- a Cornwall Country botanical recorder, the biodiversity gem which is Bodmin Airfield, was unearthed. Ian spotted what looked like Orchids in the Airfield and identified three different species of Orchids on closer inspection. These were the Southern marsh, Heath spotted and Greater butterfly Orchids.
Bodmin Airfield has since become a key ‘Donor’ site of seed and green hay as part of the Meadow Match project, which provides a ‘dating agency’ to match makes donor and receptor sites of wildflower meadows. Wildflower Collective runs Meadow Match in partnership with the University of Exeter, The Halpin Trust and the SWEEP project.
Join us for a talk and Q&A by Jay Gates, who will tell you about this exciting discovery, and how they have inspired other airfields locally, nationally and even internationally to recognise their biodiversity potential!
Join us on Zoom on 24th May at the link below:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/blooming-bodmin-airfield-tickets-320577494917
Visit YES this year at the Shuttleworth Season Premiere Air Show, Sunday 1st May 2022.
Expect a thrilling air display from historic aircraft, fantastic children’s activities, and a chance to explore the beautiful Shuttleworth Swiss Garden. There is something to keep the whole family entertained!
Find out more information and book your tickets at the link below:
We look forward to seeing you there!
