Chamber Charity of Choice Update | Aug 2023
04 August 2023
The team! Summer Open Day.
Let's face it, so far the weather isn’t exactly what any of us expected. However, luckily, we live on a stunning Island where fun things can be found if you know where to look – yes, even when it’s raining.
As well as giving you the low-down on what we got up to throughout July, for this newsletter we’ll therefore be giving you a few tips on what STEM-tastic things you can do with the kids in August when the sun’s having a snooze.
To begin with though... JULY!
Summer is so much fun here at Love Tech HQ – not least because this year we had our tremendous Summer Open Day to look forward to.
Taking place in conjunction with UNESCO Biosphere, IOM Code Club and IOM Young Engineers, this took place on the 22nd – and what a way to kick start the holidays.
First off, we want to give a massive shoutout to Barclays Eagle Lab for having us. Also, to all the team for ensuring everything went like clockwork. Thank you, fabulous parents who supported the event too and, of course, our young delegates. Over 100 children attended the event which went off without a hitch – eager faces, excitement, engagement, FUN and lots of litter pickers handed out.
Big thanks to Hansard for sponsoring these alongside the occasion as a whole.
Activities included a coding task, VR headsets, engineering and Biosphere activities. The full vibe can also be captured over on our website Gallery page here:
“I came with three children today... they were a little bit nervous coming in, and now that we’re halfway through, they are ignoring us, they don’t want to speak to their parents, they’re having a brilliant time and getting to experience things that we couldn’t really show them at home so this is a fantastic thing you’ve done for all the Island’s children.” Summer Open Day Mum.
Congratulations to everyone involved. Also, remember, if you want to make sure you never miss an event, sign up to our events mailing list here:
Moving on...
Other exciting July news includes our STEM books in Primary Schools initiative. This on-going, PwC Isle of Man, sponsored project has seen our wonderful committee members now deliver no fewer than 31 STEM assemblies to our Island’s primary schools along with a huge batch of free STEM books for each school’s library. This means... (drum roll)… only two schools to go, and Love Tech are very excited to announce that both of these have signed up for visits in the Autumn Term.
Thank you so much to all the committee members for such hard work here, to the schools for your unwavering curiosity and fabulous questions, to Bridge Bookshop for helping us source the titles and PwC for helping us make the magic happen.
AND! This wasn’t all we got up to in schools this month because...
For STEM week, Ballasalla School invited us back in not once, but TWICE. We therefore took along a bunch of fun stuff (Sphero balls, robots and VR Headsets) and had a proper blast.
In addition to this, Love Tech had the privilege of hosting a Cyber Security Panel at Castle Rushen High School with OCSIA – Isle of Man Office of Cyber Security and Information Assurance. Thanks to all involved, the feedback was brilliant.
This is also a growing area of concern and a hugely important topic. If you’ve been keeping an eye on our socials, you might have therefore spotted that we’ve been sharing Cyber Security vids to help keep you all Cyber Safe too.
Last but not least for July...
Love Tech had a great time last week supporting Henry Noble Bloom Library’s first workshop for their Ready, Set, Read, Summer Reading Challenge. Here’s what the library’s lovely Jan Macartney had to say about the event:
“Our challenge couldn’t have got off to a better start with the wonderful Andrew Roche, cycling coach, and Becky Storrie, pro-cyclist, taking to the children about how they got into sport and how important it is to work hard, stay focused and motivated but most importantly, enjoy what they are doing... I’m so grateful to Love Tech for getting me in touch with Andrew and Becky and we can’t wait to welcome physiotherapist, Ruth Cooil, on the 23rd August, who will be telling the children how to look after their bodies when doing their sporting activities.”
In other news...
So, it’s Summer and the weather has yet to perk up, but there’s still so much to do!
To begin with, we’re just on the cusp of launching our Summer Wildlife Challenge in conjunction with Manx Wildlife Trust and UNESCO Biosphere and it’s set to be the perfect antidote to gloomy days.
Why? Head on over to our website to find out, but here’s a clue... It involves visiting eight amazing and truly magical, natural habitats that are a joy to check out whatever the weather...
AND...
It also features A VERY EXCITING COMPETITION – the chance for your child to win a 6th Generation iPad Mini (kindly donated by Manx Telecom), or a £50 voucher to spend in Manx Wildlife Trust’s Peel shop (kindly sponsored by Appleby).
Sounds a bit special? That’s because it is!
If you’re after a quiet day keeping the young ones occupied at home, we’ve got you covered too. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be posting mini STEM activity ideas.
Feel free to share with us how you get on – drop us a PM or pop something into our social media comments sections. We would love to know.
In fact, remember to keep an eye on our social pages in general. We try and fill these with news, inspirational stories and educational ideas, so plenty to STEM-tertain – every like, comment and share helps us improve visibility too, so do feel free to engage.
And that’s about all for now. Next month we look forward to telling you a bit more about our new Mentors and our brand-new Mentor Engagement Programme – so watch this space.
Ballasalla School, STEM week
In the meantime, if you are a woman in STEM on the Isle of Man and would love to get in involved, please do drop us an email:
Thank you as always to the Chamber of Commerce for all your support and for making us your 22/23 Charity of Choice!
Love Tech Ltd is an Isle of Man registered charity no. 1293. Check out our website www.lovetech.im for more information.