Three Fife schools to benefit from ExxonMobil STEM donation

ExxonMobil’s Fife Ethylene Plant has made a donation of £8,000 each to Beath, Lochgelly and St Columba’s High School in Dunfermline. The schools are the main link schools to the Mossmorran plant.

The schools have already used the funds to increase STEM participation in the classroom.

Beath High School has used the funds to purchase and install six brand-new SMART boards. The touchscreen boards are aimed at making learning more interactive for pupils.

At a recent visit to Beath High, Tom Antram from Community Relations at FEP, was shown the smart boards in action and thanked by the staff and pupils.

Martin Darling, principal teacher of business and IT at Beath High School, said: “As a school we were absolutely delighted to receive such a significant investment from FEP.

“We want our young people to learn in the best environment with the best resources that prepare them to go on to a positive destination that is right for them.

“These SMART panels will allow a more interactive learning experience for our young people.”

Lochgelly High School has put their funds towards STEM related school trips and materials for their plastic moulding machine. The trips had been put on hold due to the Covid pandemic, however funding now allows the excursions to take place.

Steven Heggie, Principal Teacher of STEM at Lochgelly said: “ExxonMobil’s funding of these STEM trips for our young people will help them to engage in activities at places like science fairs and museums with various partner companies.

“The aim of these trips is to try to engage more of our young people in STEM subjects and they will be targeted at pupils aged 11-14.”

Finally, St Columba’s High School will use the funds to participate in FIRST Tech Regional Competitions. Funds will cover entry costs and materials to allow the school to enter the UK-wide LEGO building competition where they will design and build a robot.

Nicola MacKinnon, principal employability teacher at the school, said: “Our school is Fife’s only Scottish Attainment Challenge Secondary, with many of our young people living in our most deprived communities.

“The donation will make a significant impact on our students' STEM capital. The commitment FEP has shown us will help to close the STEM skills gap in the school and we will be able to build capacity in STEM education.

“The money has allowed us to purchase equipment to participate in FIRST Tech Regional Competitions. It also has allowed us to work towards reducing our plastic waste by recycling the plastic in school to be reused in the Technology Department.”

Martin Burrell, plant manager at Fife Ethylene Plant added: “We are always looking to encourage more pupils to consider engineering as a career and we hope these will help with the subjects which promote such careers.

“Who knows, maybe some of these pupils could become our engineers of the future.”