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We are a key provider and coordinator of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education activities and support in Essex. These are for students at school and home, undergraduates and recent graduates, and are designed to both stimulate an interest in STEM and to open possible career paths.

Get involved

We offer an annual programme of events to promote STEM subjects. Our main education activities are:

  • Schools' Competition: an annual event at which students from local schools showcase their work and compete for prizes awarded by the judges.
  • My Smarter Essex: an initiative to engage citizens in the design of a smarter future Essex, with the opportunity to meet with local companies.
  • Imagine! STEM Club: out-of-school clubs and masterclasses to enhance the science curriculum with fun, practical activities.

Click here to see upcoming CSES events for schools and families.

Support for STEM activities

CSES actively promotes, enables and supports the provision of STEM in education, in partnership with other local and national organisations.

To this end, we have made available a bursary to support the start-up and growth of STEM clubs within schools.

Click here to find out more about the STEM Club Bursary.

In addition, our website is packed full of ideas and resources for STEM activities, as well as your stories for inspiration.

If you would like to discuss STEM support in your school or at home, please contact our Education Lead.

Centenary Photographic Competition

STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, MathematicsFor our centenary year, 2020, we have worked with Essex County Council and Chelmsford City Council to celebrate Essex 2020 – a year of Science and Creativity – with hundreds of events being organised by a range of organisations and people.

This county-wide STEAM festival is putting the creative arts into STEM, and as part of this CSES is running a Centenary Photographic Competition open to primary and secondary students in Essex.

A visual celebration of Science and Engineering in Essex

Centenary Photographic CompetitionWe want you to take and submit photographs which capture what is unique or special about science and technology from across our amazing county. From the longest pier in the world and the birthplace of radio, to Nobel prize winners, companies that put image sensors into space and much, much more...

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Imagine! STEM @ Home

Imagine! STEM @ Home

A DIY Imagine! STEM competition during lockdown

We are pleased to publish our Imagine! masterclasses for Essex 2020 online.

You could win a prize

Build a model bridge – any design with a span of at least 30cm using only old cereal boxes, string, sticky tape and glue – which will support a 300g can of baked beans.

Send us a video of your bridge attempts, both successful and those which don't quite defy gravity! Prizes will be awarded for the best (and worst) attempts.

Send it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. before 25 September 2020 and you could win a prize. That's all you have to do.

Go to our ideas, links and resources section to find out more.

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Imagine! Returns with 2020 Masterclasses

Imagine! Returns with 2020 Masterclasses

Our hit STEM Club is back with an expanded programme for Essex 2020

Due to the COVID-19 situation, we will unfortunately have to postpone these sessions until the next academic year.

We are very pleased, however, to publish our "Simple Machines and Bridges" masterclass (originally scheduled for May) as a DIY activity pack. See our ideas, links and resources section to find out more.

This is part of Essex 2020 – a Year of Science and Creativity.

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CSES Schools' Competition 2020

Due to the COVID-19 situation we will unfortunately be unable to hold the CSES Schools' Competition this year.

If you were thinking of entering, we will gladly allow entries from this year to be presented next year. We'll announce the details once confirmed.

Thank you for your understanding, and the very best wishes for the coming months. Stay safe!

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Greensward Academy at the IET Faraday Challenge

Students from the Greensward Academy attended thee 2019 IET Faraday Challenge, supported by the CSES

On 30th January 6 year 8 students attended the Faraday Challenge, run by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in Chelmsford, supported by CSES. The students (Isabella Vitney, Noah Garner, Jack Kelley, Austin Bateman, and Charlie Bracken) were given a problem to solve (the details are sworn to secrecy, as this is part of a National Competition) making use of circuits and various construction/engineering materials. They were expected to work as a team; design, create and promote their idea, keep to a budget, and obviously, come up with a solution.

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