Tresham

Exciting New Study Centre at Silverstone

20 Jan 2007

In an exciting new development, the country's first ever Motorsport based study centre has been launched at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire. The ‘Learning & Discovery' Study Centre, a joint venture between Silverstone Circuits Ltd, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and Northamptonshire County Council has been operational since September 2006 and was officially opened by Damon Hill in January 2007.  

Racing to success

This is the 100th study centre to open in the UK and the fifth in Northamptonshire, with other centres based at Northampton Saints RFC, Rushden and Diamonds FC, Northampton Town FC and Northamptonshire County Cricket Club. Through the nationally acclaimed educational initiative ‘Playing for Success' (PfS), these study centres develop activities to promote motivation and development throughout the primary and secondary education phases and beyond. It provides an unparalleled opportunity to use a motorsport setting and a wide range of activities and events to raise awareness of safety, environmental and health issues.

High tech centre

The internal structure of the Silverstone Study Centre was designed to mirror the circuit itself, with unique features including specially designed grandstand seating complete with desks, a special effects ‘Bridge' across the room - encompassing automated lighting, projection screen, sound, wind machine, smoke machine and aroma canisters - and an interactive replica of the Silverstone F1^TM Circuit will be used in the flooring design. These specialist features will enable full integration of PfS activities into a motorsport arena.

Last year Northamptonshire study centres delivered the PfS programme to over 1,000 children. PfS is about to embark on its 5th year during which they will deliver 100 programmes to 1,500 children from half the schools in Northamptonshire.

Alex Chilcott, Centre Manager, said: "Silverstone is rightly known as the home of British Motorsport and provides a unique learning experience alongside opportunities to develop new groundbreaking activities."

Richard Phillips, Managing Director of Silverstone Circuits Limited, commented: "Silverstone is proud to be a partner in this amazing educational initiative, and I am delighted to see local students benefiting from it. We are the first circuit in the UK to support an initiative of this nature and we are always looking for new ways to encourage young people to get involved in motorsport."

Education links

The Study Centre is a first class example of how Silverstone have linked with education in developing the learning abilities of children, serving to strengthen our relationship with local communities. The centre demonstrates the power of working with community partners to engage, enrich and empower children and young people in the learning process. The interactive sports environment coupled with personalised learning programmes means that we are able to meet the educational, social and cultural needs of each and every child.

Partnerships

In carrying out its work, the Silverstone Study Centre has formed partnerships with other agencies and providers, including the National College for Motorsport (NC4M), to develop a united approach to delivering sustainable programmes and projects, including Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing, education for 14-19 year olds and vocational studies. The Silverstone Study centre and NC4M partnership was demonstrated at the DfES National Conference with the delivery of several workshops using the Information Communication Technology equipped Race Trailer which also acts as a mobile training facility.