– short for Bristol Chemical Laboratory Sciences – was launched in 2005. It is a -funded national and includes a strong schools-outreach programme.
The commendation follows last month’s award to of a for the project’s positive and sustained impact on the community. This was the first ever awarded to a university department for outreach activities and the first awarded to an educational programme in the chemical sciences.
was one of only seven Big Tick winners in its category that were put forward for the . The winner was Pinsent Masons LLP while – the only university entry – was .
recognises company community programmes that raise the achievement of young people through building sustainable partnerships with schools to the benefit of pupils aged between five and 19 years.
The judges were impressed by the scale of the schools outreach programme and its impact on the aspirations and achievements of young people. Over 30,000 students have been engaged during the past year.
The quality of engagement with teachers was also highlighted as an example that could be followed by other companies active in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The , launched in partnership with the and , allows all chemistry teacher trainees and their pupils to use a new, innovative e-learning tool – the developed jointly by and
Professor Eric Thomas, Vice-Chancellor of the University, said: ‘The outreach activity undertaken by Bristol ChemLabS has been consistently brilliant. The Big Tick award and this additional commendation reflect a huge amount of inspired work. I warmly congratulate the ChemLabS team.’