Home Educators’ STEM Clubs

The clubs consist of groups of enthusiastic home educating parents, children and engineers working in partnership with tutors and Technology for Fun. They meet regularly to undertake a wide variety of design and make projects based around the STEM subjects of science, technology, engineering and maths. Currently clubs are running in mid-Wales, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Worcestershire.

They’re student-led and believe strongly in learning by doing. Groups are diverse and inclusive, and able to accommodate a range of different needs and learning styles.

They mostly use recycled materials, sourcing them locally from businesses and individuals, as well as from scrap stores, and are committed to this approach for both environmental and economic reasons.

Determined not to let a lack of money or facilities stop them from completing more complicated or expensive projects, they’re very creative when it comes to finding unwanted items (e.g. borrowing two Greenpower Goblins from nearby schools) and applying for funding. The Worcester club is currently funded by the iMechE and the original Wotton club won a Young Engineers Specialist Award at the Big Bang Science Fair where they met Prince Andrew. The Big Lottery Awards for All project supported all the clubs as well as the broader community of home educators in Gloucestershire.

In the past our clubs have been supported by Magnox, IOP, IMechE, IET and Renishaw.