Succeeding With Science

This website is part of the Succeeding with Science education programme supported by Sellafield Ltd (on behalf of the NDA). This programme builds on BNFL's programme of the last nineteen years.

Sellafield Ltd has gained the reputation of being one of the foremost companies in the UK for providing sponsored teaching resources.

These resources are produced for teachers by teachers. As teaching aids, they are designed to fit precisely into the curriculum and are produced to high standards of innovation and good practice. Such is the quality of these resources that they are recommended by examining bodies, curriculum advisers and subject co-ordinators.

Science Education and Sellafield Ltd

Sellafield Ltd attempts to raise awareness of the important role of first rate science and technology in determining the quality of life now and in the future.

The need for scientific rigour is based on the two key statements which underpin Sellafield Ltd's education support:

• technology is developing at such a rate that if we do not control it, then it may control us. In order to control it we must first understand the process of technological innovation in its broadest sense
• scientific understanding is crucial to our survival and the enhancement of our quality of life; it is crucial in developing practical solutions to poverty, disease and deprivation. That is what we mean by 'succeeding with science'

Background to Involvement

Sellafield Ltd has a long history of supporting schools on a local, ad hoc basis through its operating sites, but Sellafield Ltd's nation-wide commitment to education began with the development of the National Curriculum.

The National Curriculum enabled Sellafield Ltd to develop science and technology teaching resources at a time when teachers were adjusting to the new curriculum which called for new content, new methodology and new classroom materials.

Through the Association for Science Education, Sellafield Ltd conducted country-wide research into the needs of science teachers in delivering the new curriculum. This research provided a sound basis on which Sellafield Ltd could make a welcome and relevant contribution.

Strategy for Delivery

To ensure that Sellafield Ltd was able to make a relevant and welcome contribution to curriculum based learning, the company developed links with schools, colleges, university departments, advisers, teaching and examination bodies. Consultation with people delivering education would ensure that Sellafield Ltd's education support would be in the interests of pupils and teachers, and as such reflect positively on Sellafield Ltd.

Developing partnerships is therefore a key element in Sellafield Ltd's education strategy.