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Launch of Eden Reward Scheme
We don’t need to tell you all that the world was a very different place BC (before Covid) and you may be aware that the Eden Play Centre ran the largest school’s reward system donating thousands upon thousands of free entry passes to students who had received 100% attendance during each school term, then every child was off school…
The return to “normality” and opening the play centres is a very different landscape to before with booking systems and apps etc. so we have been working with our amazing tech team to figure out how we can still celebrate these amazing young people who have had to battle a LOT to get their education.
So, we’re thrilled to announce that as part of the Eden Reward Scheme, we will donate to any local participating school 100 free entrance vouchers but this time we want to celebrate resilience, courage and much, much more… In line with the Welsh Government’s Four Purposes the school can reward their passes to the students that have shown to be:
Ambitious, capable learners
Enterprising, creative contributors
Ethical, informed citizens
Healthy, confident individuals
These vouchers need to be awarded and sent home during the last half term and the parents/carers need to book online and use the voucher code to claim the free session.
We hope that with all the stress, anxiety and bad news of the last few years can be put aside for a few hours of fun activity and making lovely memories to treasure!
For more info about the scheme and to register, click the button below.
The Eden Education Centre has won a silver award at the Careers Wales Valued Partner Awards after demonstrating its commitment to helping students prepare for their future careers.
Over 40 companies from across Wales attended the award ceremony, hosted by former BBC news anchor Sara Edwards.
The Careers Wales Valued Partner Award recognises the important contribution made by businesses who consistently step up to support the workforce of tomorrow by participating in Careers Wales facilitated activities in schools throughout Wales.
22 companies picked up gold awards, 18 companies won silver and 13 companies took home a bronze award.
Nikki Lawrence, Careers Wales Chief Executive, said: “This is the first time we have hosted an event for our Valued Partners and the reception has been amazing.
“Celebrating businesses who have gone above and beyond to help spread our message and provide young people with a platform of opportunity and guidance is essential to our work.
“We hosted this award ceremony to show our gratitude to our Valued Partners and to recognise that we value their support every day – this is our way of saying thank you.
“We’re glad everyone enjoyed and we hope all of the companies will continue their vital work with students.”
Pete Jones founder of the Eden Education Centre commented that “we are so thankful to be recognised for our work by Careers Wales and very grateful that we are able to give so many students opportunities to develop skills that are transferable into the world of work in our STEM Challenges, we look forward to continuing this partnership in 2019.”
For more information on how to become part of Careers Wales’ Education Business Exchange programme, visit www.careerswales.com
Celebrating the success of businesses in Blaenau Gwent
May 9th saw the inaugural Blaenau Gwent Business Awards recognising achievements and celebrating the success of businesses in Blaenau Gwent.
The General Offices in Ebbw Vale were transformed for the evening into an impressive venue to rival any big city. During the drinks reception, we were able to view the impressive technology provided by awards sponsors Thales UK.
After keynote speeches from Dai Davies – Executive Member for Regeneration and Economic Development at BGCBC and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure – Ken Skates AM. Onto the awards, the fingernail biting began.
Each nominee showed a video that gave us an insight into what they do as a business and why they deserved to win the awards. It was fantastic to see such a diverse range of businesses, some that compete on a global scale, operating on our doorstep.
Excellence in Innovation and Technology Award
We were shortlisted for the ‘Excellence in Innovation and Technology Award’. Our entry shouted about the work that we do in the Eden Education Centre, that innovation is at the heart of what we do in response to a much-publicised skills gap in industry today. We aim to inspire the next generation of engineers, scientist or mathematicians to fill job vacancies in roles that may not even have existed yet and despite tough competition, we won!
Peter Jones, Founder of Eden Education Centre commented “we were thrilled to be recognised for the work we do, our main goal is to make a difference to the lives of young people today. Our workshops make high tech learning accessible and hopefully we are inspiring many young people to step into exciting futures!”
Huge thanks to Blaenau Gwent Council and the BG Effect team for all their hard work with these awards, we can’t wait for next year, there’s plenty more stories to shout about and successes to tell in Blaenau Gwent!”
Eden Education Centre on ITV Wales
We have recently been visited by Mike Griffiths from ITV Wales after meeting our team at the Man Engine events. Mike came along to our centre to find out more about what we do…
10m Mechanical Puppet
It isn’t very often you meet a 10 meter tall mechanical puppet, in fact the largest mechanical puppet ever made in Britain! When the creator of the Man Engine, Will Coleman approached us in August 2017 to ask if we wanted to be involved in the Cymru 2018 tour, well, you can guess our response.
The Man Engine On Tour
Throughout the Easter Holidays the impressive Man Engine went on tour of our local heritage sights starting in Big Pit and ending in Swansea and we were there with our very own LEGO Man Engine.
The spectacular events across the region paid homage to significant historical figures for each particular area. Brought to life through drama and song. It was a fantastic way to connect with the younger generation and to share the amazing history and sacrifices made by those gone before us, literally on our doorsteps
The LEGO® Man Engine
Our Man Engine recreated in LEGO took over 30 hours to construct, he included robotics and engineering to raise him from a sleeping position to a standing position, like the Man Engine himself, his head also moved side to side and a 3D printed fan turned in his insides. His jaw opened and closed using pneumatics and his arms moved using pulleys and LEGO® man power. To ensure a realistic homage to the mining industry he had a miners hat complete with a light that was 3D printed especially.
Thousands of people visited each site and were inspired not only by the enormity of the Man Engine and his commanding presence when standing full height but the historical significance highlighted at each venue and the engineering feats celebrated in the mining engine through this incredible sight. Many children commented that they would make an attempt at making their own LEGO Man Engine when they returned home!
What’s next? Well the Man Engine will continue to tour around the country for more information check out https://www.themanengine.co.uk and our LEGO® Man Engine will also be doing a tour of his own as we visit the 4 schools of the competition winners, where a class will have the opportunity not only to see our LEGO version to make a small robotic Man Engine of their own!
History + Innovation + Technology = Inspiring the next generation, fantastic!
