McLaren High School

In 2018, McLaren High School hosted a STEM Festival which included a programming and robotics competition for three of their associated primaries. Based on the success of this initiative, the Stirling school is now planning to coordinate and assist in the creation of extracurricular robotics clubs in its 11 associated primary schools. These clubs will focus on building and programming using LEGO Mindstorms robots, which are more accessible than text-based coding or traditional electronics. Topics covered will include Fixed Loops, If Statements, and Functions alongside engineering concepts and working with sensors, motors, and gearing. This project will also involve training S1-S6 pupils in McLaren High School to become “STEM Ambassadors / Trainers”. Previous initiatives at the school have found that using pupils in this manner is more effective than staff alone and provides greater inspiration for the Primary pupils as they can more clearly see a pathway to using their skills as they progress through the education system