Feb 22, 2023
The much-loved Big Bang Fair is returning for another year and, from today, schools and families can register for free tickets to attend.
Young people can once again get excited by the wonders of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and inspired by what a career as an engineer or scientist could be like.
Taking place from Wednesday 21 to Friday 23 June 2023 at the NEC in Birmingham, The Fair is the largest celebration of STEM for young people in the UK. The Fair is aimed at young people aged 10 to 13 – who can attend with their school, or with their family or community group during The Big Bang Fair Unlocked session – running from 4:30pm to 7:30pm on Wednesday 21 June.
Young people will have the opportunity to meet real engineers and scientists and get involved in hands-on activities, exciting live shows and inspiring career panels. Students will also be able to earn stickers as they go, with Big Bang Explore, and will have the chance to enter a prize draw to win exciting rewards.
New for 2023, there will be half-day sessions on offer for schools, who are able to register for morning (9am to 12pm) or afternoon (1pm to 4pm) sessions. The Fair will be open to groups from state-funded schools for young people in year 6 to year 8 (England and Wales), P7 to S2 (Scotland) and year 7 to year 9 (Northern Ireland).
Bringing the Big Bang fun to all young people
In a bid to ensure equal opportunities for young people from a diverse range of backgrounds, schools meeting EngineeringUK equality, diversity and inclusion criteria will be invited to apply for a bursary when they book tickets, to support them with attending The Fair.
Phillip McShane, Associate Director – Big Bang Programme at EngineeringUK, commented: “The Big Bang Fair is an excellent opportunity for teachers to ignite a passion for STEM in their students and showcase to them what a career could look like in the sector. The new half-day sessions will give schools the chance to make the most of their time with the STEM inspiration activities. We want all young people to think big and discover their potential, and to inspire young people from groups underrepresented in engineering – so I’d encourage schools to sign up to The Fair and end the school year with a big bang!”
A student, who attended last year’s Fair, said: “The Big Bang Fair is an absolutely amazing experience. There are different business opportunities, education opportunities – I got that in abundance but I got a whole load of other things as well: first-hand experience doing coding, driving a drone, CPR. All these things play a vital part in our life.”
Anne Beglin, teacher at St Crispin’s School who also attended last year’s Fair, said: “Our students really enjoy events like this and it really does inspire them, particularly when they see young people doing engineering.”
Also taking place at the Fair, will be the awards ceremony for the popular Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition. Winners will be announced, including the crowning of the prestigious UK Young Engineer and UK Young Scientist of the Year.
The Competition, which is free to enter, is open to young people in the UK aged 11 to 18 in state funded education, who are home educated or who enter as part of a community group. There’s still time for young people to get involved – with The Competition open for entries until 30 March.
With tickets for The Big Bang Fair always booking up quickly – teachers, families and community groups are advised to book their free tickets early, to avoid disappointment.
Find out more about The Big Bang Competition and enter a project on the website.
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