Introducing the National Space Academy
- 30th Oct 2024
- Author: Elliott Langley - Marketing Administrator
For this Our Space, I want to shine the light on the team behind the National Space Academy, who work hard to guide secondary school students into STEM careers. Whilst our amazing attraction team are welcoming families and school children to the Centre to have a fantastic day out, the Academy team are working both behind the scenes and in classrooms to inspire young people who are looking for support in planning their futures.
But did you know that their team is made up of an award-shortlisted novelist, 5 former members of Space Crew, and even a tortoise?
I had a chat with Ewan, National Space Academy Coordinator, and Grace, Communications and Marketing Manager, about what the team gets up to and what they’re working on currently.
So who is the National Space Academy?
Grace: We’re a nation-leading education service that’s just one piece of the larger National Space Centre. Our mission is to help students aged 11 to 18 get excited about science, using space as an inspirational context and to find their way into a career in the space sector. So while the National Space Centre as a whole is educating families and school children during their visits, we’re here for the next phase of that journey, post-GCSE.
Ewan: There’s a lot of things that we offer. We run an award-winning space engineering course, which we’re really proud of and is taught by accredited Physics teachers. We run in-school masterclass around the UK. We organise symposiums, training for lead educators who provide the masterclasses, and hold careers days to show how amazing a STEM career can be. And we provide CPD for teachers, universities and other educational bodies. We’ve worked with more than 50,000 students, nearly 6000 teachers and hundreds of industry professionals over the years, and it’s been an amazing journey!
What is National Space Academy working on at the moment?
Grace: We’ve got 2 different ongoing projects that we’re focusing on. First we’ve got the Air Power & Space Association (ASPA), who funded masterclasses and CPDs for schools that might not be able to attend otherwise. Then there’s the Space to Learn programme, which is what our Regional Officers take care of. This consists of delivering educational masterclasses, space camps, and space conferences, which take place across lots of different regions in the country.
Ewan: We actually just had some space camps in Belfast recently, which lots of schools attended so they could listen to guest speakers from the field. As part of the programme, we cover the fees for the teaching so that the students can be away from school and we cover the cost of transport as well.
Amazing. And what does a normal day look like for you all?
Ewan: We’ll usually have some questions come in from people who are asking about career guidance or questions about space, so we’ll answer those first. Then we tend to have a team huddle and look at what we’re all doing. We’ve got three Physics teachers on the team, so they’ll be delivering classes, whilst our Regional Officers are booking in Masterclasses around the country. It all depends, no two days are ever the same. I’ll be busy contacting Lead Educators one day and arranging sessions with them, and then the next day might be planning ahead so we all know what our schedule is, while another day I’ll be offsite helping deliver the content.
Does a lot of the work take place out in the community?
Ewan: Yes, Sophie, Pete and Nat teach all teach lessons at Loughborough College for the Space Engineering course. They also do outreach with the Space Camps as well, which sees them going around the country. Our network of Lead Educators and Space Advocates deliver masterclasses at schools across the UK, and the team also run camps and conferences all over!
Grace: We had some of the team travelling down to Herstmonceux in East Sussex to deliver a space camp a few weeks ago, whilst at the same time the other half of the team went to Inverness to do the same. So if you were wondering why the office was quiet, that’s why!
Sounds awesome, what sort of activities did you do at a Space Camp?
Ewan: It might vary on whereabouts we are in the country, but generally we have things like an inflatable planetarium, rocket launch workshops, stargazing and even an opportunity for students to scuba dive in a pool. There’ll be loads of talks from both our team and guest speakers in the STEM, and lots of live science demonstrations.
Grace: It’s a great part of the job, we get to see loads of the country, and sometimes we can take members of staff from other parts of the Charity so that they can experience it too and learn some new skills.
And I understand that quite a few of the team started off on Space Crew, is that right?
Ewan: You’re absolutely right! Liberty, myself, Lorna, Lisa and Charlotte all joined the Centre as Space Crew and we’ve worked our way up into the National Space Academy. I think that’s one of the great things about working here, there’s so many opportunities to grow and develop. I saw the role being advertised and thought it was an amazing opportunity to grow some new skills and make a difference. I’ve got lots of happy memories from those days, but I’m really happy where things have taken me.
Have you got any career advice for people looking to get into STEM?
Ewan: So the advice I normally give is to have a look at a website called Space Careers, which is where they advertise a lot of roles in the field and it’s where I saw this role advertised. They post all kinds of jobs, from attractions to satellite design to engineering… the list is massive! So I definitely recommend looking at that.
Grace: Careers advice is a huge part of what we do, so there’s lots of guidance on our website. We hold Careers Conferences as part of the Space to Learn programme, where we get speakers from big organisations in the field like Airbus, HE Space, the RAF and Lockheed Martin to name a few. If you're a teacher, it's definitely worth applying to bring your students to one of these events.
Sounds great. I also understand that you have a special member of the team who likes to drop in sometimes?
Ewan: Oh, you mean Michelle? Yeah, she’s a legend. She’s a hard worker and her words-per-minute blow mine out the water.
Just to be clear, we are talking about a tortoise here?
Ewan: That’s right, David [General Manager] has a pet tortoise called Michelle who he brings in sometimes. She’s amazing! She’ll usually sleep in her box and occasionally gets up to eat a bit of lettuce or a tomato, then has another snooze. She’s very popular with the staff here, she likes to go for a walk on people’s desks in the office and likes clambering over their keyboards. She also got to go for a roam downstairs in the galleries. I think she was very popular on TikTok that day. She's always really well looked after when she visits us, everyone's really protective of her.
Are there any other cool facts about the team, other than your reptilian associate?
Ewan: I mean, the whole team are all awesome people. We’ve got some very talent people working with us. Sophie, our Head of Teaching and Learning, had her first book published this year! She’s also a multitalented musician and plays bass in a band. David’s also an accomplished author and has had two novels published, which were shortlisted for an award. And Liberty, one of our Regional Officers, had a coffeeshop in Loughborough named after her!
Grace: I happen to be a keen archer and fencer. I seem to have a perchant for medieval sports.
What does #SpaceForEveryone mean to you?
Grace: Space is everyone's business, it has so much impact on the world already and that's only going to increase! That's why, to me, #SpaceForEveryone is so important: no one should feel they don't have a place or a voice in something so vital. We need everyone's contributions for our world to become a better place!
