A school outreach program builds partnerships between educational institutions and sponsoring organizations to open up new pathways for growth and success. It paves a better road to the future for students, sponsors, and their communities.
PSI supporting Schools Outreach:
Interested in learning about how you can engage in schools outreach? Check out the slides and recording from our webinar held on 11th September 2023 to find out more. If you still have any questions after reviewing this material, please reach out to us at careers@psiweb.org.
This scheme will aim to recognise PSI members who have made exceptional outreach contributions throughout the year.
Each time you complete an outreach activity within a School, submit an activity completion form. We will determine the total number of activities you submit at the end of each month, and if you make it into the top champions (based on the highest number of activities submitted to date), you’ll find yourself displayed on the leaderboard!
The scheme will close on 31st May 2024. At PSI Conference 2024 we will announce the top 10 individual members who completed the highest number of outreach activities during the academic year. The top 10 will receive a certificate and £50 voucher of their choice, and the winner will also receive a £250 STEM grant for a participating school.
How should I approach a School to organize an activity?
You may have connections to school through your employer and/or personal connections (such as alumni networks/ old school or university/ family & friends with children schools/ teacher friends). You may also wish to consider schools in your local community (either at home/ work). We have drafted a letter template that can be used to make an initial connection to schools that you do not currently have a relationship with.
If you don’t have any connections with schools, you could make use of one of the many national STEM engagement schemes available within the UK. Most are free to join as a volunteer, and they often have job boards/ adverts from schools that you can sign up to.
What counts as an activity?
On your own or as part of a team?
Either is fine! But if you wish for your involvement to be considered for the incentive scheme each individual member of the team will need to submit an activity completion form!What materials to use?
Make sure you check out our educational resources where we have career talk slides, classroom workshops and materials shared by your fellow PSI members that you can make use of for your outreach activities. Similarly, if you are looking to develop your own we have details on the current schools curriculum so you can ensure you are meeting the activity requirements for your school!
Do you know what your employers goals/ priorities are in relation to Schools Outreach? If not then why not endeavor to find out and see how you can align this with your individual interest in volunteering with Schools, you may find additional support!
Do they already run schools outreach programmes that you can support internally? If not, why not suggest this is something they could look into?
Check if your employer has a paid volunteering hours scheme as you could use this time for engaging in Schools outreach.
The Careers and Enterprise Company has recently launched a set of employer standards designed to help review the quality of your outreach and how it aligns with your business objectives which your employer may find helpful to explore.
Your employer may also wish to consider partnering with a STEM engagement scheme and exploring their sponsorship opportunities available.
There are many relevant days of interest happening throughout the academic year that you could look to plan your outreach activities around. See our calendar of engagement days of interest below. Where possible, we have included relevant web pages in the event description where you can find out more details about that specific day(s) of interest.
