OREANDA-NEWS. October 12, 2016. A group of enthusiastic children from Glasgow’s Shaw Mhor Early Years Centre were recently treated to an eight day programme of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathmatics (STEM) exercises thanks to a couple of kind hearted volunteers from energy company SSE.

The programme of visits and exercises, which focussed on how we use electricity in our homes, was delivered in conjunction with the nursery practitioners by SSE’s technical and safety trainers Mark Hill and Jimmy Robertson.

However Mark and Jimmy are more used to teaching SSE employees using the company’s practiced policies, procedures and technical language. Dealing with a much younger audience proved more challenging to start with.

Mark, a Technical Trainer based at SSE’s dedicated training centre in Perth, was initially a bit thrown: “The head of the centre was very clear from the beginning all learning outcomes had to be achieved through play. To be honest that took us away from our comfort zone but with a little bit of creative thinking we were able to design a series of fun and interactive challenges which actually helped us improve the training we give to SSE employees as part of our day job.”

Fiona Penman, Head of Centre at Shaw Mhor Early Years, is adamant these type of programmes are essential:

“Early exposure to STEM supports overall academic growth, develops early critical thinking and reasoning skills and enhances interest in the subjects as areas of future study and career options. I’d like to thank Mark and Jimmy for giving up their time to provide the children with such fun and interactive lessons on electricity. We found out everything from how to create electricity from water to all the safety procedures they follow to stay safe.

“The children took a great deal from the visits and were extremely grateful for the soft toys and certificates all their hard work earned them.”

SSE’s employee volunteering programme supports each of its 20,000 employees to Be the difference for a community project of their choice by taking a day away from their usual job and give a helping hand.

SSE is proud to support charities, organisations and schools, giving our time and skills to help our local communities.