Polymer Study Tours are run by the Horners’ as residential courses for Teachers to learn about the Polymer Industry for the benefit of both themselves and their pupils. Delegates receive a Certificate of Professional Development,
They help to educate teachers on the science, technology and applications of polymers (both plastics and rubbers). From the industry point of view the Polymer Study Tours provide information and create interest, which will promote the recruitment of high quality scientists and technologists for the plastics and associated industries. In addition the courses promote the knowledge of polymers and plastics and their importance to the quality of everyday life and thereby enhance the image of plastics and the plastics industry in the eyes of future consumers.
The Polymer Study Tours are designed to improve your subject knowledge, provide suggestions for practical activities and give first hand experience of the polymer industry in action. They are a careful blend of lectures, practical sessions using readily avaiable resources to demonstrate key polymer-related concepts, industry tours, and discussion opportunities based on detailed information sent out beforehand, and they are open to practising and trainee teachers from all regions of the UK. The residential aspect provides the ideal opportunity to network with other like-minded teachers from across the country and we hope that you will make long lasting connections with your colleagues and the invited speakers. The sessions will all be delivered by experts from industry and academia and the Tours will include a crucial final session, led by a practicing teacher, looking at how you can use the content from the course in your classroom teaching. We have liaised closely with Design & Technology teachers when devising the programme so that it links closely with the polymer topics in the 11 to 18 curriculum. All delegates will receive a comprehensive resource pack following the event, including electronic literature and physical samples.
The courses were in a two-day format for 2019 and ran at three venues: London, Manchester & Edinburgh. Due to COVID, no courses took place in 2020 or 2021.
Three tours are currently proposed for 2022, one at Lancashire, one in Hull and the other at Edinburgh Napier University.
The 2022 Lancashire Polymer Study Tour at Victrex is exclusively for teachers from University Technical Colleges and will take place on Sunday 26 and Monday 27 June. The East Yorkshire Tour at Bericap in Hull will take place on 1st and 2nd of July.
The Edinburgh Napier University Polymer Study Tour will take place on the same days and the timetable is provisionally as follows:
Sunday 26 June
13:00 – 13:30 Registration (Merchiston Campus, Edinburgh Napier University)
13.30 – 16.00 Polymer Processing – Polymer Workshop (B15)
16:15 Refreshments
16.30 – 18:30 Polymer Identification & Testing – Advanced Materials Centre (A18)
18:45 – 21:00 Dinner
Monday 27 June
7:00 – 7:45 Breakfast
8:00 Depart Pollack Halls
9:00 – 11:15 Ineos Grangemouth
11.45 – 13:15 Impact Laboratories, Livingston
14.15 – 15:45 Xandor Automotive Larkhall
17:00 Return to Pollack Halls
Further information and booking information can be found on the Institute of Mining Minerals & Mining (IOM3) website by clicking here.