Ørsted announce winners of second round “Skills Fund” for coastal areas of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and North Norfolk

This funding forms part of the company’s £465,000 East Coast Community Fund 20-year annual commitment, and is part of the community engagement programme for Ørsted’s Hornsea Project One and Race Bank offshore wind farms, which are located off the Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and North Norfolk coast.

£65,000 is shared between four organisations delivering projects relating to Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) education and training:

• The Teacher Scientist Network has been awarded £22,985 to provide 12 schools in the funding area free access to all the necessary components to run a four week, after-school, STEM club focused on the assembly of a working wind turbine.


• An award of £20,000 goes to STEM Learning to fund an ENTHUSE Partnership in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The Partnership will bring together 8 schools and colleges, from the eligible funding area, to develop a two year intensive improvement programme to raise achievement and aspiration in STEM subjects.


• Franklin College were awarded £12,015 to support students in their STEM academy undertake paid internships, enabling them to gain vital work experience.


• £10,000 is awarded to support West Norfolk Academies Trust schools in King's Lynn, Hunstanton and West Walton through the West Norfolk STEM Catalyst project. The project will see Key Stage 3 students work independently or in groups to plan and run a project addressing a real-world STEM problem. At the end of the 2 year process, students will receive a CREST Bronze award.

Emma Swinburn, Employer Engagement Manager at Franklin College, said: “Franklin College are delighted to have been awarded money from the East Coast Community Fund provided by Ørsted. This money will allow us to support a number of our Year 12 students on summer internships within the STEM sector enabling them to explore the vast range of careers and develop key employability skills. This funding really will make a difference to our students and we are looking forward to working with local organisations in placing our students into quality internships that will allow them to experience working within the STEM sector first hand.”

Fran Dainty, Head of STEM Expertise at STEM Learning, said: “We are delighted that this funding from Ørsted will enable STEM Learning to work with local schools to give their pupils a world-leading science, technology, engineering and maths education. Through excellent STEM teaching and by building awareness of STEM careers and the opportunities they offer, we can improve the life chances of some of the most vulnerable young people in the East Riding area.”

A further £10,000 has been awarded to two colleges within the Fund’s coastal area of benefit to be used to help finance local students who are unable to access traditional funding streams for support. The colleges to benefit with grants of £5,000 each are the College of West Anglia and the Grimsby Institute.

As well as contributing £75,000 a year to the East Coast Skills Fund, Ørsted has also partnered with Teach First to transform the skills landscape in the North. As part of this Ørsted support Teach First on a number of challenging targets to improve the teacher attraction and retention, and pupil progression in Grimsby, Hull and Merseyside.

Natasha Nanuck, Senior Stakeholder Advisor, said: “Our community funds are designed to give back to the communities in which we operate, but we’ve ringfenced a part of that specifically to enable organisations to develop and deliver STEM-related training. As a predominately engineering-based company, we recognise the importance of developing STEM skills, especially in the areas where we will be operating for a number of years.

“We look forward to seeing the results from this round of funding; each project looks set to deliver an engaging programme and we will announce when the next round of funding will be open to applications early next year.”

The Fund is being administered by the independent grant-making charity GrantScape. For further information about the Fund and when and how to apply, please visit their website www.grantscape.org.uk or call them on 01908 247634.

For more information on Ørsted’s education initiatives please visit: https://orsted.co.uk/About-us/Corporate-Responsibility/Education

ENDS

Editors’ Notes:

Media contacts

Matt Young – GrantScape: 01908 247630 or 07963 987657 matt.young@grantscape.org.uk

Juliette Sanders – Ørsted: +44 (0)7876 866 284 julsa@orsted.com

About Ørsted

The Ørsted vision is a world that runs entirely on green energy. Ørsted develops, constructs and operates offshore wind farms, bioenergy plants and innovative waste-to-energy solutions and provides smart energy products to its customers. Headquartered in Denmark, Ørsted employs 5,600 people, including over 900 in the UK. Ørsted's shares are listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen (Orsted). In 2017, the group's revenue was DKK 59.5 billion (EUR 8.0 billion). For more information on Ørsted, visit orsted.co.uk or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

About GrantScape

GrantScape is a grant-making charity committed to enhancing the environment and strengthening local communities through its grant programmes. GrantScape’s experience stretches back to 1997 and it has awarded grants totalling over £80 million to deserving projects over this time.

GrantScape manages a range of community and environmental grant programmes on behalf of corporate and local authority clients. These are tailored to their individual requirements, which is the charity’s speciality. In addition, GrantScape offers a professional project management and grant process review service to groups requiring support with these activities.

For further information, please see: www.grantscape.org.uk or follow us @GrantScape1

About the East Coast Community Fund

Ørsted has committed to a Community Fund worth approximately £465,000 each year for 20 years. £75,000 of the Fund each year is ring-fenced for a ‘Skills Fund’.

The Fund supports community and environmental projects along the Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the North Norfolk coasts (as far as Wells-next-the-Sea), within a defined area. It is split equally between two annual funding rounds. There are two levels of grants available:

• Small grants between £1,000 and £5,000
• Main grants between £5,001 and £50,000

Applications to the Fund are made using an online application system via the GrantScape website: www.grantscape.org.uk.