Competition designed to help pupils decide
S2 students ‘go for it’
Pupils from schools across South Lanarkshire celebrated their completion of a competition designed to launch them into stellar careers in science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM).
The GO4SET Celebration and Assessment Day was held at the council’s headquarters in Hamilton and youngsters got the chance to showcase their hard work to a panel of expert judges – plus guests from industry, government and their families.
Children from Hamilton’s St John Ogilvie High, Hamilton Grammar and Holy Cross were there with Larkhall Academy as well as St Andrew’s and St Bride’s High, Trinity High, Stonelaw High, Calderglen High, Duncanrig Secondary, Biggar High and Lanark Grammar.
Prizes awarded on the day included the Pupils’ Choice Award which went to St John Ogilvie High School, who also scooped the Outstanding Innovation Award.
“We thought GO4SET was a really good, fun and challenging project,” said a Holy Cross High spokesperson.
“We all enjoyed working together as a team. We also learned and improved a lot of skills.”
The GO4SET competition encourages S2 pupils to ‘go for it!’ and pursue further education, apprenticeships or careers in science, engineering and technology – getting them out of the classroom and giving them first-hand experience of the workplace.
For ten weeks, children aged 12 to 14 worked in teams of six with an industry mentor on Stem-themed projects based around real-world problems that needed solving, from environmental issues to finance and technology.
The organisations supporting this year’s teams were Viridor, EDF Energy, Devro, South Lanarkshire Council, Liberty Steel, Rolls Royce, Portakabin, Levenseat and Mott Mackenzie.
Helen Anderson, Scotland director for competition-organisers EDT, said: “GO4SET encourages young people of today to be the engineers and scientists of tomorrow.
“It also helps them develop skills in team working, communication, report writing and problem solving – all essential skills in today’s world of work.”