The launch event which was well attended by local schools, learning trusts, local and county Councilors, charitable organisations, and local media who heard on the wide importance of this project from guest speakers Martin Bellamy (CEO of Gravity), Andy Berry (Principal of Bridgwater & Taunton College), Adam Murry (CEO of BUFC) and Matt Mead (Sphero Sports).

This Gravity Sphero offering will transform the way that children and young people in the local area learn coding and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) skills.

Uniting Football, Robots and Educational STEM activities, inspires hands-on fun learning through practical football-based coding games with interactive and engaging programming activities, to teach key transferable and digital skills, already enjoyed by 40,000 Educators worldwide and with more than 3.5 Million users on the Sphero EDU Platform which supports the national curriculum.

Bridgwater United Community Sports Trust have formed a partnership with Gravity to give schools and youth groups the chance to join this fantastic and engaging movement!

“Gravity are committed to stimulating transformational change, enabling a new era of greener growth which creates opportunities for local communities and business. Our ambition is to establish a smart campus near Bridgwater, creating 7,500 high value jobs. The Gravity team is focused on generating genuine social value to make a real difference:

supporting young people to strengthen personal resilience and inspiring them about careers in the built environment.

Looking ahead, the campus will host high tech companies and building a local talent pipeline, therefore we now turn to the promotion of STEM to help prepare students for the opportunities ahead and to provide them with the tools and skills to thrive and succeed. We are delighted to support the Gravity sphero project and launch a new learning through play initiative with Bridgwater United Community Sports Trust. This is an important step towards growing a local workforce at Gravity – with our young people at its heart” Claire Pearce, Gravity

Commenting on this partnership Sarah Murry, Bridgwater United  added “Since our first meeting with Gravity they have been a great supporter of the Trust as our visions for community partnership completely align. The synergy between the two organisations is very strong and we are delighted that with their support we can revolutionise the STEM education and play offering to children and young people in Bridgwater.”

Bridgwater United FC are proud to be the only Non-League football club and the only club in the South-West Region to offer this really innovative programme.

Recognising that there is an international shortage of STEM skills and young people going into STEM Careers – the STEM Gap.

This exciting new project, combines innovative technologies and sport to combat this, using engaging and innovative teaching methods.

Hearing more from Trust management,  Oli Moore “Combined with our physical activity and school engagement programmes, this is a powerful addition to our United Schools Partnerships, that we offer to enhance pupil experience.”

Dan Rogers added ‘We are delighted to be able to offer this exciting new programme to members of our local community and proud to be the first non-league football club in the country to offer this provision. We hope you are as excited as we are!’

Whilst the technology used the attraction of football, we recognise that not everyone is a football fan (yet) but everyone can enjoy the experience of learning through play!

For more information and to book your school taster session visit www.bridgwaterunitedcst.com/gravityspheros/

or contact Community@bridgwaterunitedcst.com