CCI Celebrates Tenth Anniversary
School children and scientists from across the region recently celebrated all things science at the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre in Widnes to mark ten years of the Children Challenging Industry (CCI) scheme.
The pupils, all of primary school age, showcased the findings of experiments that they had undertaken as part of the University of York’s CCI programme and presented reports on their site visits to industry to a host of local chemical company bosses.
The CCI programme was set up to challenge children’s perceptions about the chemical industry, which is still one of the region’s biggest employers and the country’s biggest exporter.
In the last ten years, the scheme which is supported by Chemicals Northwest, has trained, educated and built links with:
- 11,470 local children
- 3,500 Northwest teachers
- 372 local schools
- 375 company personnel
- More than 70 Northwest companies
Sue Andrews, CCI advisory teacher for the Northwest, said: “What a great achievement this is both for the CCI programme, Chemicals Northwest and for all those who have been involved in the last ten years.
“In that time we have seen real success stories – young people who have chosen science at GCSE and A’Level after being inspired by one of our classroom sessions or industry visits.
“It is these young people who will go on to be the scientists of the future and will help solve many of the global issues we are facing.”
CCI advisory teachers work not only to change the perception of the chemical industry with the younger generation but to show them how interesting and exciting jobs in science and chemistry can be.
They grab the children’s attention with practical experiments and follow it up with a site visit to a local chemical company or power station.
The children love doing the experiments and getting kitted out in the goggles and gloves. The activities not only involve science, maths and teamwork but also really mimic industry. It encourages the children to be excited about science and maybe one day a career as a chemist.
Halton Mayoress councillor Marie Wright attended the celebration with Mayoress Sheila Walsh and former Bolton MP Dr Brian Iddon, among other special guests from local chemical companies and schools who are involved in the CCI programme.
She praised CCI and Chemicals Northwest for supporting the initiative, saying: “We are extremely lucky that our local children have access to such a valuable programme as this.
“When I was at school science was something that only the cleverest children could hope to understand but CCI do an incredible job of making science practical and exciting and most importantly fun.”
Nine-year-old Tom Durr, a year four pupil at Halton Lodge Primary School in Runcorn, said the site visit his school had been on to global chemical company Solvay, had been “amazing”.
He said: “The CCI classes we did were really good and I loved the visit to Solvay.
“We saw what the scientists did there with filters and made bouncy balls out of plastic which made me realise that science is fun.
“Science is a really good job to have and I think lots of people should become scientists. I think they would if they knew how much fun it could be.”
Watch highlights from CCI tenth anniversary on the Chemicals Northwest YouTube channel.
