Greatstone Primary School brings energy to science lessons

Pupils from Greatstone Primary School are learning about electricity from their local power station, Dungeness B.

The visit to the site, which is just up the road from the school, complements pupils’ classroom curriculum studies on electricity by seeing an operating power station in action.

The Year 4 pupils were shown around the Dungeness B interactive exhibition centre and taken on a tour of the power station to learn about where their electricity comes from.

 

The eight and nine year olds were able to see the top of the two reactors and the impressive turbine hall where enough power for over 1.5 million homes is generated.

 

Emma Bovingdon, age 9, from Littlestone said: “Because of the picture of the Generator I thought it would be really small but was surprised at how massive it was! I liked the Turbine Hall and was surprised at how many places the tour took us to.”

 

Mr Finn, Science teacher at Greatstone Primary School said: “The children have had a fantastic day and a rare opportunity to see one of the many ways electricity is generated. Walking around the site has really brought learning to life and the staff here have been fantastic and so helpful.”

 

Steve Coates, plant manager at Dungeness B said: “At EDF Energy we welcome many schools into our power stations. The feedback we receive from teachers is that the visits engage students in STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths] and bring a new dimension to the subjects they study at school.”

For more information contact:

Juliette Sanders
Media Officer (South East)
07875 112 599
Juliette.sanders@edfenergy.com

Notes to editors

EDF Energy and STEM
All EDF Energy power stations have STEM Ambassadors that do activities on site and go into schools to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. As part of EDF Energy’s leadership training, all graduates are trained as STEM Ambassadors and complete two STEM activities per year. EDF Energy wants to engage students in the STEM subjects and to provide information on the possible career paths that the industry has to offer.

EDF Energy in the South East

In the South East EDF Energy operates Dungeness B power station which employs over 500 staff and 200 contracting partners.

EDF Energy employs a further 2,500 staff in East and West Sussex with approximately 800 across sites in Crawley, Three Bridges, and East Grinstead and 1,700 across two of our three UK based call centres in Hove and Worthing..

As well as generating enough power to serve some 1.5million homes in this region the company also provides gas and electricity to 730,000 customers with over 20% of those opting for one of the company’s Blue+ products which are backed by low-carbon generation.

We make sure we buy enough electricity generated from a low-carbon nuclear source to match every unit of electricity we estimate our Blue customers use.

EDF Energy is proud to power up some of the largest companies in the UK, including sites for Tesco Stores Limited, Ministry of Defence and Morrisons right here in the South East.

Following a landmark agreement with Network Rail the company also provides nuclear-backed Blue energy to power up the UKs electric rail network, covering most of the south east of England and the main lines from London to Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as the Merseyrail network around Liverpool and the Glasgow suburban network.