KidZania London joins forces with UK Government on Year of Engineering campaign
KidZania London - the indoor city run by kids – has teamed up with the Government’s Year of Engineering campaign, to launch a programme of exciting events and activities designed to inspire a new generation of innovators, inventors and problem solvers. The Year of Engineering Festival will run at KidZania throughout 2018, with events kicking off in May through to September.
The Year of Engineering is all about transforming perceptions of engineering among children, their parents and teachers by bringing them inspiring experiences and role models, showing young people that engineering is a varied, creative career which shapes the world around us. Engineering is one of the most productive sectors in our economy, generating 25% of total UK GDP, but the industry faces a major skills gap and lack of – the engineering workforce is 91% male and 94% white.
The Year of Engineering Festival at KidZania will see a host of new and enhanced activities to support the campaign and learning criteria of pupils in Key Stage 1–3, with collaborations with Year of Engineering partners such as Remap, Usborne Books, Sea Cadets and the Aviation Skills Partnership, as well as existing brandpartners such as Middlesex Cricket.
For schools, the festival will launch on May 23, to coincide with KidZania’s Step Into University event, followed by the city’sSTEM Fair from Wednesday 20th– Friday 22ndJune and STEAM Fair taking place on Friday 21stSeptember.
Families will also be able to enjoy the fun of the Year of Engineering Festival during the summer holidays and weekends.
Eddie Kemsley, CEO at KidZania London, comments: “We are so excited to be announcing our partnership with the Year of Engineering. Inspiring the next generation of engineering minds is such an important task and what better way to motivate them than through providing real life experiences that they can engage and interact with”
She continues; “Not enough young people – especially young girls – think engineering is a world for them, let alone a potential career path. We’re looking forward to working with the Year of Engineering alongside some truly fantastic brand and charity partners to make the subject more accessible and demonstrate engineering as exciting, rewarding and creative.”
Year of Engineering Minister Nusrat Ghani said: “Children are natural engineers, from their creativity to questioning how things work. But outdated perceptions mean that too many young people are missing out on a career that brings so much opportunity”
She continued: “That’s why we’re delighted to be joining forces with KidZania to give young people the chance to discover engineering in the best way possible – through experiencing it for themselves.
Engineering is everywhere you look, from helping people with disabilities to sending satellites to space and putting the bubbles into bars of chocolate. The KidZania Year of Engineering Festival will help bring this to life, showing young people from all backgrounds how they could shape the world around them as an engineer.”
With more workshops and events still to be announced, the KidZania Year of Engineering Festival programme currently includes:
Remap and Middlesex Cricket Activity – 23rdand 24thMay and 20th– 22ndJune
Remap, a national charity that helps disabled people achieve greater independence and quality of life, will be teaming up with Middlesex Cricket – already one of the firm favourites with children visiting KidZania – in the miniature Lords Cricket Ground at KidZania. Kids will engineer solutions to help people who are blind or partially sighted play cricket blind. Remap will also be running activities that encourage children to think like an engineer, developing solutions for people with different disabilities.
Pilot People Workshop – 20 – 22 June
Hosted by the Aviation Skills Partnership, the Pilot People Workshop is designed to get young people thinking about what it takes to be a pilot. In particular, what effects being a pilot has on the body both physically and mentally. The challenge encourages children to think about the science of the body and maths.
Usborne Books – STEM Quiz – 20thJune
Usborne authors Alex Frith, Alice James and Jerome Martin will be at KidZania on Wednesday 20thJune hosting a STEM quiz for KidZania visitors throughout the day.
Usborne, the UK’s #1 independent children’s publisher, is supporting the Year of Engineering throughout 2018, helping children understand more about engineering through inspiring and accessible STEM books – including a new title for the Year of Engineering, being released in the autumn
Usborne
Abrams & Chronicle Books – Pop-up Stand - Thursday 21st June
Abrams & Chronicle Books are delighted to be celebrating the bestselling, STEM-tastic books by dream-team Andrea Beaty and David Roberts, including Rosie Revere, Engineer,Ada Twist, ScientistandIggy Peck, Architect (Abrams Books for Young Readers) on Thursday 21st June. Look out for the pop-up stand and inspire young engineers with activity kits, Rosie Revere bandanas, goodie bags and more!
Abrams & Chronicle Books is the London-based European arm of acclaimed publishing houses ABRAMS (New York) and Chronicle Books (San Francisco).
Sea Cadets – Marine Engineering – 20thAugust - 2ndSeptember
Sea Cadets, a national youth charity that works with 14,000 young people between 10 and 18 years old across the UK, will be showing children the engineering behind sea cadets with their interactive simulator pods.
KidZania believes in ‘Learning by Doing’. By bringing the classroom to life in the city, it aims to boost children’s curiosity and imagination through curriculum-based real-life activities.
To book tickets for your school trip now, please email schools@KidZania.co.ukor call 0330 131 3335.
Or to book a family visit, please visit www.KidZania.co.uk
To find out more about the Year of Engineering, including inspiring events taking place across the UK and learning resources and lesson plans for teachers, visit www.yearofengineering.gov.uk.
KidZania London, Westfield London, Ariel Way, W12 7GA 0330 131 3333
Twitter - @KidZaniaLondon
Instagram - @KidZaniaLondon
Facebook - /KidZaniaLondon
YoE Twitter - @YoEgovuk
YoE Instagram - @yearofengineering
ENDS
Notes to editors
Learning outcomes:
KS1-3 Science– Animal and Human nutrition, Human skeleton and muscles, Material properties – solids, liquids and gases
KS1-3 PSHE– Skills and qualities required to engage in enterprise, financial literacy
KS1-3 English- Writing narratives about personal experiences, giving short presentations and expressing their own ideas
KS1-3 Maths- Add and subtract amounts of money to give change
Pricing:
Access to all additional activities is included in the entrance price
£14 per child
Reduced pricing available for schools with a high Pupil Premium level
About KidZania London
At KidZania London, children can take part in real-life adventures. Spanning across 75,000 square feet, KidZania is an amazing indoor city built just for kids! KidZania provides children with the opportunity try out a variety of real life activities from being a firefighter, journalist to a surgeon. Each experience is developed to teach kids essential life skills including financial literacy, teamwork and independence.
Designed to empower and entertain kids, KidZania gives them the chance to challenge themselves and gets children thinking about which career they may pursue in the future.
KidZania is a unique role-play experience for 4-14 year olds, blending learning with reality and entertainment.
For opening hours and to book tickets please visit www.KidZania.co.uk.
@KidZaniaLondon /https://www.facebook.com/KidZaniaLondon
About the Year of Engineering
The Year of Engineering is a landmark campaign to give young people a million inspiring experiences of engineering in 2018 – from behind the scenes tours and career networking to interactive workshops. Alongside KidZania London, more than 1,300 partners are supporting the campaign, including Apple, Siemens, BBC Teach and Apple.
By bringing young people, their parents and their teachers face to face with engineering experiences and role models, the campaign aims to show that engineering careers are varied, creative and innovative with good opportunities. The campaign also aims to widen the pool of young people who consider careers in the profession, showing young people what they could achieve as an engineer regardless of gender, ethnicity and social background.
It’s estimated that the engineering industry needs 203,000 qualified engineers every year to 2024 – and less than 10% of those currently working in the profession are female.