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Mini-graduation for Meteor pupils

Nearly 400 primary school children will take part in a procession and mini-graduation to mark the end of the twelfth Meteor Summer School at the University.

They will gather near the Bottle of Notes sculpture, on Tuesday 20 July, before heading to Middlesbrough Town Hall for the celebration ceremony. The Year Six pupils from across the Tees Valley will be accompanied by their student mentors to the mini-graduation where they will cross the Town Hall stage to receive a certificate from the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Graham Henderson. The pupils will be watched in the audience by their families, friends, teachers and VIPs.

Meteor was launched by the University in 1999 to inspire local primary pupils to think about further and higher education. Meteor offers a series of activities on and off campus covering a wide range of curriculum based activities. It also provides an opportunity for pupils to meet and talk to students working on the activities and in schools.

Always a special atmosphere Joe Bulmer, from the University’s Schools and Colleges Partnerships team, said: ‘There’s always a special atmosphere at the Meteor graduations. The children get so excited and hopefully we may see them again in the future at the Town Hall, or similar venues around the UK, crossing the stage as university graduates.’

At this year’s Meteor Summer School, Mark Hopgood, Project Director for Middlesbrough’s £2.7m, 48m high Temenos, delivered daily presentations about the sculpture to the children, including a time lapse video showing the construction of Temenos. The pupils then worked in teams to design, computer visualise and then finally build their own constructions. These will be displayed on a loop at the Town Hall ceremony.

This year’s Summer School was funded by One North East.

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