Science: Unlocking Potential

Dr Caroline Oprandi keeping you up to date with science & technology at PACA

Groundwork South have just moved into an office in part of the academy and so not one to miss an opportunity, I went along to meet with them to see what they do. Groundwork is actually an established nationwide organisation that has been around for over 30 years and the office that has just moved into Portslade covers both Sussex and Surrey. Their vision is as follows: “We want to see a society of sustainable communities which are vibrant, healthy and safe, which respect the local and global environment and where individuals and enterprise prosper.”
Creating these sustainable communities means developing initiatives which cut across economic, social and environmental issues. Their work is diverse, but it all helps to achieve their vision. The Groundwork approach is to:
Start local
Put the right tools in people’s hands
Engage with everyone who has a stake in a place
Address as many issues as possible with the same investment

Last year alone they invested £80 million into communities, improved or maintained 26 million m2 of land benefitting 492,000 people and supported adults and young people to carry out 520,000 days of social action in their communities.
I am very excited that they are based here at PACA and by working together we can further the work that we already have in place for the school children and the local community. Groundwork see themselves as a social enterprise rather than a charity and this exactly fits in with my own ideals. Social enterprises firmly put the environment and society as high a priority as making a profit. Sometimes businesses will state that they are a Not-for-Profit organisations but they are in fact owned by a larger organisation that is very much all about profit. Not the best example of human behaviour!
We already have a plethora of projects at PACA that we can collaborate with Groundwork South on, but one main project that we will focus on is the Primary STEM bus. We recently held a meeting about this topic at PACA, with Martin Cooper and Neil Fulcher from Mile Oak Primary School sharing their vision. We had a representative from Herstmonceux Observatory Science Centre at the meeting giving us helpful advice and we will now incorporate an outdoor science and technology area focusing on renewable energy. This again exactly fits in with Groundwork South’s own aims for local communities. It really is awesome when a plan takes root and starts to blossom.
Portslade Aldridge Community Academy (PACA) is a college offering sixth form, 11-16 years, youth centre, adult learning, community education, sports centre and pre-school. Find out more at www.paca.uk.com