UPDATE: We successfully raised over £7,500 on our recent Crowdfunder and have created this campaign to get us the rest of the way. We're in talks with Santander about hopefully getting their support. We also have some corporate sponsorship negotiations going on.
We plan on opening a dedicated centre to house our mobile planetarium, green screen, educational equipment, etc and allow us to hold more frequent events/clubs. The proposed venue in on the high-street and has been empty for 8 years - let's put it to good use!
The Centre (predominantly run by volunteers) will open throughout children's holidays and will also open during term-time in the evenings and at weekends. Along with dedicated areas for dinosaurs, space, art and coding, we will have an open area for group activities.
Activities at the centre include:
- Coding clubs
- Science Days and clubs
- Space zone with models, artifacts, etc
- Dinosaur zone with models, artifacts, archaeology, etc
- Technology zone with electronic kits, robot making, etc
- Green screen area for fun portraits, videos for our upcoming app (donated) and shows produced by the children
- Art club (using space, dinosaurs, etc to encourage a love of art)
- Our planetarium shows
- Safe surfing lessons for adults
- Tablet lessons for the elderly
- Evening Astronomy club
- Children's parties
- Space Cadets Club - similar to Army Cadets, but for those wishing to be Astronauts/Aerospace Engineers, etc
- Store to buy educational toys
- Second-hand microscopes, telescopes, etc making them more affordable
Eventually we hope to have a fixed planetarium in place, but initially we will use our mobile planetarium.
Why we're doing this...
The support for STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) is increasing in the UK and the government recognises the importance on these subjects. However, particularly with Coding, teachers are having to learn at the same time as the children, so how can we expect them to inspire the children? Put someone who uses code in their day job in front of them and things become more engaging, and more valuable. Rural areas like ours tend to have a lot of smaller primary schools, often run by the village church. It's unfair on these schools to expect them to have specialists in the STEM fields and the latest equipment, but the children in rural schools still need that experience and role models.
We've already seen the impact of taking our mobile planetarium & artifacts into school and we know the value of code clubs on these rural children. Help us take this one-step further.
The Crowdfunder Campaign
We've already received great support from our town council and funding from the county council, but we need to look at all sources.
The Rewards
About the Atom Club
Atom Club is a registered non-profit (CIC) and will soon be going through the process of registering as a charity.
We already have a planetarium, a successful online store, artifacts including meteorites and models, subscription boxes and are soon to launch a free app. The app was kindly donated by our sister company: The Honest Agency. It brings together hundreds (eventually thousands) of science experiments and coding lessons for children to do at home.