Ten teachers from Hull and East Riding secondary schools are set to become offshore wind
“champions” having been selected to take part in a careers education programme launched
by Forewind, development partner for the Dogger Bank offshore wind farm zone, working
together with the Humberside Engineering Training Association (HETA).

Secondary school teachers from as far as Scarborough in the north to Withernsea in the south have
been accepted for the ‘Champions for Wind’ programme, which will facilitate the development of
tailored curriculum materials aimed at raising awareness amongst students of the full range of
potential career opportunities in offshore wind energy.
 

Together the 10 teachers form a network of secondary school ‘champions’ from a variety of subject
areas including humanities, geography, business, science and design and technology. They now
have six months to design a programme specific to their students before it is delivered in the
classroom, then rolled out to other schools in the Yorkshire catchment area.
 

Forewind General Manager, Lee Clarke said the teachers were all chosen from schools near to
where the consortium’s first proposed offshore wind farms are planned to connect into the national
grid at an existing substation at Creyke Beck, near Cottingham.
 

“It made sense for us to focus on the area around the onshore infrastructure for our first
development – Dogger Bank Creyke Beck - to ensure the nearby community is aware of the
potential opportunities offshore wind may bring,” Dr Clarke said. “We hope it will boost the numbers
of local young people interested in a career in the industry.”

The teachers have just taken part in a kick-off conference in Hull with speakers from Forewind, The
Crown Estate and Renewable UK giving an introduction to the UK offshore wind industry while the
HETA team outlined the process involved.
 

Director of Educational Programmes at HETA, Mike Cargill, said that the teachers would draw on
their experience and expertise to develop engaging and innovative curriculum resources that will be
disseminated within their own school and neighbouring cluster schools.

“The network approach is intended to provide a framework to support innovation and cross region
school clusters,” he said. “Throughout the whole process a series of evaluation tasks will be carried
out to measure the impact on teaching and learning.”
 

Teachers from schools throughout the region have been chosen including: Hessle Federation,
Kelvin Hall School, Withersea High School, Scalby School, Graham School, Sir Henry Cooper,
Malet Lambert, Cottingham High School, Driffield School and Ashwell.

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