ACS Partnerships - Event Impact Report
Bringing exciting educational opportunity to all children
ACS Partnerships aims to increase collaboration, share expertise and good practice, widen educational opportunities and raise standards in key subjects.
By working together, we can raise the standards of teaching and learning through innovative, relevant and accessible initiatives, filling the gaps in mainstream services that have a positive impact on the education of the children in all partnership schools.
Our event at Thorpe Park was developed to be as inclusive as possible, for all children. We worked closely with charities like 'Inner Wings, Utcai, The Childrens Hospices and several special schools to ensure the event was achievable and educational.
Our ultimate goal was to make the educational activities more attractive than the rides. On occasion the ride queues were empty as the students engaged with the hundreds of activities on offer thanks to our providers.
With activities provided by well-known names such as the Royal Philharmonic, Barclays, Mercedes F1, The RAF, The Bloodhound Supersonic Car and a few awe-inspiring moments from Titan the Robot, the RAF Chinook helicopter, Gravity Jet flights and the RAF Central Band, the day was jam packed full of educational fun.
We have lost count of the number of emails, text messages and social media posts from schools, charities, universities and companies involved in the day - sharing with us positive stories from the activities on offer.
Below we have included some photos, videos and prominent feedback and statistics from the day that you might be interested to see.
8553
Students
Attended
75 External
Providers
Collaborated
1000+
Teachers
and
Support
Staff
Attended
TESTIMONIALS
“The class had such a great time and we spent the whole morning reflecting on their learning from the day. I was so impressed with the organisation and smooth running and that the activities held the children’s attention just as much as the rides."
Cat Edwards - Year 6 Teacher - Chevening Primary School
“It is incredibly hard to capture in an email the benefits identified following the Thorpe Park trip by our children's comments. So many of our pupils have gained transferable skills in terms of developing the confidence to take risks as well as the inspiration ACS have provided to prepare them for the world of work. We cannot thank you enough and look forward to strengthening our partnership with ACS"
Jan Harvey-Davies - Assistant Headteacher - Colham Manor Primary
18
Professional
Shows
51,318
Hours of
Student
Interaction
42,765
Hours of
Pre-Learning
Activities
TESTIMONIALS
“We are still coming down to earth- most literally from an absolutely marvellous day at Thorpe Park! It was beyond our expectations and to see such joy on the faces of our children was simply brilliant. On behalf of everyone at WBJS- thank you so much 😊"
Lesley Lawrence - WBJS
“I just want to say what a phenomenal STEAM event you organized!! Wow, one of the most enjoyable and memorable STEM moments in my life! Massive congratulations to the superb management, tremendous work behind the scenes, fantastic choice of exhibitors and partners, absolutely well done! Thank you so much for allowing us (the STEM Team) to be a small part of it, we just loved it!! I have never seen kids (especially ladies!) so motivated and encouraged into STEM! From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THIS AMAZING OPPORTUNITY!!"
Karolina Hammer - ACS Cobham
12,300
Gamification
Cards
Used
7443
Students
Attended a
Live
Show
99.7%
Satisfaction
Rating
Teacher
Poll
TESTIMONIALS
“The Thorpe Park Event was the first STEM event I have been to that had a wide variety of subjects covered, ranging from engineering to medical. Many of the activities showed me how less fortunate people are benefiting from STEM, such as the MERU Project which is building specially designed wheelchairs for disabled children. Also, seeing all of the projects together really showed me how expansive STEM is and it was truly inspiring to see many notable attractions, like the Bloodhound, RAF Chinook, F1 Racing Car, and so much more."
ACS Cobham STEM Student
“I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you for an absolutely fantastic day at Thorpe Park yesterday. Our children absolutely LOVED it. The whole day went so smoothly from beginning to end. The coaches and minibuses were perfectly on time and communication with them was excellent. (Thank you Robert).
Many of the children had never been to a Theme park, and probably never will. As staff, it was a real privilege to be able to make this trip happen for the children.
The static displays were excellent, and the children loved playing instruments with the musicians from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra."
Rosalie Taylor - Assistant Headteacher for Inclusion - Minet Junior School
All Videos
All Videos
Titan The Robot
Titan The Robot
The RAF Central Band
39
Living
Library
Professionals
213
ACS
Student
Volunteers
200+
Adult
Volunteers
TESTIMONIALS
“Can I just say on behalf of the whole SATRO team what an amazing day we had at Thorpe Park yesterday. You must have been exhausted by the end of it but also very pleased with how well it all went. Students were using construction equipment including saws, hammers and chisels in the construction area and we were able to manage some large groups through that too.
BAM construction who came along to run a stand with us with 2 of their apprentices also thoroughly enjoyed the day and wanted to pass on their thanks too.
On behalf of the entire SATRO team who turned out on the day can I just say a huge thank you – and count us in for the next event!"
Anne Edwards - Satro
“Exceptionally well done! The event came together brilliantly. The radiance on the students' faces and the general buzzing atmosphere were a testament of just how fabulous the day was.
Hats off to you and the team. The event embodied innovative education on display."
Ted Moya - ACS Trustee
The ACS Staff Team
The ACS Partnerships Team have been working on this project for around 8 months and we predict that a total of over 1500 hours of work has gone into bringing all the partners on board, organising the day itself and all of the supporting emails, designing websites, apps, risk assessments and even putting up the gazebos, flags and signs.
We were forced to postpone the event twice in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, so we were thrilled to finally get a chance to host everyone on the 4th October 2022.
The Living Library
"An absolute Triumph"
Students were able to drop in and speak to representatives from 39 industries. With set questions to get them started this 'careers speed dating' allowed our guests a chance to ask about qualifications needed, potential jobs of the future and anything else they could think of.
We ran 4 sessions during the day with everything from the RAF engineers,to Pharmaceutical careers..
237
Pages
Of
Risk
Assessments
70+
Military
Personnel
On
Site
28
ACS
Parent
Volunteers
TESTIMONIALS
“Thank you SO much for Tuesday. Our pupils and staff came back absolutely thrilled and full of joy about the day they had. What an amazing experience for them all. I cannot even imagine how you organised it all. Huge thank you again to you and your team. You totally smashed it!"
Bethan Willets - Headteacher - St Andrews Primary School
“I’m not sure whom to write to express how grateful our whole family is for this amazing opportunity. Nolan & Lou came back thrilled from this fantastic day and will be talking about it for a long time…
I cannot imagine the amount of work to organize something like this, logistically alone but please know that all your hard work has been thoroughly appreciated on our end.
Please feel free to forward to anyone involved in making this happen as it was a very special day for our children."
Parent of a local primary school
Gamification
We were thrilled with the success of the gamification cards. Students were engaged in educational activities all day. by 12:30pm most primary school students had filled their cards but were still collecting points rather than going on the rides.
100+
Schools
Attended
200+
Activities
On the
Day
141,060
Gamification
Stamps
Awarded
TESTIMONIALS
“Thank you for allowing our school to attend the STEAM even on Tuesday. We are a small SEND SEMH school and try to give our children every chance to interact with mainstream children whenever possible. Our children loved the event.We kept our numbers quite small this year as we didn’t know what to expect but the staff and children came back having had a fantastic day."
Gavin Winters - Headteacher - The Cedars Primary School
“Our children (and the staff and parent/carer helpers!) loved the STEAM event at Thorpe Park. The children were buzzing when they came back and have told all the other children and their parents about it.
It is quite a feat to organise and deliver such an amazing event so well done to all the team for the meticulous planning and delivery of some life long memories for all the children. There was such an array of stalls to meet everyone’s needs and the children loved the rides too!"
Ben - Esher Church Primary School
“What a day! We cannot thank you enough for organising such a spectacular and enriching event at Thorpe Park. For many of our pupils, this was their first trip to a theme park, their first ride on a roller coaster and their first time seeing a military band march past or have a Chinook helicopter 'buzz' them. This will be a defining moment in their lives; one they will remember forever. What an amazing gift you have given them. Thank you for your generosity, not to mention the phenomenal amount of work to make such an event happen."
Gillian Lovatt-Young - Headteacher - Shoreham Primary School
North
Our most northerly visitors came from Peterborough
West
Our most Westerly visitors came from Crickhowell in Wales
East
We had quite a few schools that came to visit us from Kent
South
Our most southerly school to visit came from Southhampton
Contact ACS Partnerships
ACS International Schools, Portsmouth Road, Cobham, Surrey
07950670799
