Walney Extension Skills Fund Grants Awarded
The following projects have been supported through the Fund. Grant amounts are shown as the total amount awarded at the time the grant offer was made. All awards made are subject to contract.
2026
In May 2026, a total of £162,000 was awarded through the Walney Extension Skills Fund to support the following projects:
£15,000 to Furness Education & Skills Partnership (FESP) to deliver The Future of Furness – Exploring STEM Careers. The project will host the fourth Children’s Skills Conference, bringing together around 700 primary school pupils over three days to take part in hands-on STEM workshops and meet local employers, helping young people develop key workplace skills and gain an early insight into STEM careers.
£40,000 to Tech Lancaster Ltd to deliver Spark Lancaster Electech and STEAM Engagement. The year-long programme will include school visits, community STEAM clubs and a large-scale family festival during National Careers Week, helping people of all ages explore electronics, coding, robotics and green technology careers through practical, hands-on activities.
£39,000 to STEMFirst to deliver the Cyber STEM Challenge – Save the Internet!. Building on the success of a previous programme, the project will provide immersive cyber security workshops for primary and secondary school pupils across the Walney benefit area, helping young people develop digital skills while learning about cyber safety and careers in energy, defence, security and technology sectors.
£40,000 to The Dukes Playhouse to deliver Resonance: Sound Design & Engineering Skills Development Programme. The two-year project will provide practical training in audio production, acoustics, sound design and digital storytelling for people of all ages, creating opportunities for participants to develop technical and creative skills through podcasts, audio trails, radio drama and sound installations.
£28,000 to Lancaster & Morecambe College to deliver the STEMinist Festival & Future Skills Careers Expo. The project will provide a programme of interactive STEM careers events, workshops and outreach activities designed to inspire children and young people from North Lancashire and South Cumbria, with a particular focus on encouraging young women to consider future careers in STEM industries.
2025
In May 2025, a total of £106,325 was awarded through the Walney Extension Skills Fund to support the following projects:
£11,975 to Escape2Make to launch a Makers Club for 11-18 year olds in the Lancaster area. Activities will include developing 2D and 3D designs using CAD software; 3D printing with recycled filament; learning electronic design and programming to create small robots using microcontrollers; and traditional making skills such as wood carving and joinery. The project will be delivered over one year by Escape2Make in partnership with Lancaster & Morecambe Makers.
£35,000 to Centre for Leadership Performance to work with 16-25 year olds in Barrow, Walney, and South Lakeland, providing STEM work experience placements. The Centre will collaborate with local employers to ensure placements are well-planned, managed, and supported with mentoring, enabling effective and rewarding experiences. These placements aim to develop participants’ skills and confidence, while increasing awareness of local STEM career opportunities.
£24,970 to Furness Education & Skills Partnership (FESP) to host the third Furness Children’s Skills Conference, focusing on specific STEM career sectors. The three-day conference will provide an inspiring, large-scale introduction to STEM skills and careers. This follows two previous successful conferences, also supported by the WECF Skills Fund.
£34,380 to Field Studies Council to offer young people aged 16-18 in the South Lakes area places on their Science Lab Camp course. This five-day residential course provides hands-on experience in an industrial-standard laboratory, alongside outdoor adventure activities. Participants will work in teams to complete workplace-linked science investigations, exploring sampling and analytical techniques. The project will run over two years, benefiting approximately 60 young people.
2024
In 2024, £108,188 was awarded as follows:
£50,000 was awarded to Enthuse Charitable Trust to create two ENTHUSE Partnerships in disadvantaged communities across the area supported by the Fund. The Partnerships empower schools and colleges to share best practice and work collaboratively, addressing underachievement in STEM subjects, inspiring excellence in the STEM curriculum and raising aspirations for STEM careers and further study.
Note – The group subsequently decided to not proceed with this project.
Also celebrating is STEMFirst who are to receive £37,000 to deliver their Cyber Escape Challenge. The challenge will see students work in teams as Cyber Crime Prevention Officers to unlock evidence boxes and save the internet. The interactive activity has proved to be a success in other locations and this grant will help STEMFirst expand the offer into the area covered by the Walney Extension Skills Fund.
Furness Education & Skills Partnership (FESP) have been awarded £21,188 to host the second Furness Children’s Skills Conference and a series of follow up engagement projects focusing on specific STEM career sectors.
2023
In 2023, £135,227 was awarded as follows:
£24,020 to 3D Web Technologies Ltd to deliver their highly successful ‘Design a Windfarm in Virtual Reality’ sessions to over 360 pupils at 12 schools within the funding area.
It will be a teamwork activity involving: Maths, IT, Engineering, Graphic Design & Presentation Skills using innovative, engaging Virtual Reality technology. The project will be based upon a resource package developed and utilised by 3DW under a previous workshop delivery series created to support Ørsted offshore projects.
£34,557 to EDT to deliver their ‘STEM Futures’ project.
The project will give 800 young people from Lancaster and Wyre the opportunity to take part in STEM activities, learning how STEM is relevant to their lives and how STEM skills are used to tackle social challenges such as climate change. Through industry links, EDT will involve mentors and role models from diverse backgrounds, to challenge perceptions of who can be successful in STEM.
The project involves:
- Experience days, providing hands on group activities to improve knowledge, confidence, and interest in STEM.
- 12-week team projects, supported by volunteer mentors, which will challenge young people to work on a solution to a climate themed project whilst developing participants teamwork, communication and problem-solving skills.
- Annual community events, bringing participants together, to learn about and take inspiration from each other’s projects and build connections with local STEM companies.
£49,650 to Furness Education & Skills Partnership (FESP) to host the first Furness Children’s STEM Skills Conference.
Including a series of follow up engagement projects focusing on specific STEM career sectors. The conference will provide a carousel of workshops, introducing children (7 – 11 year olds) to key STEM skills and the wide range of STEM careers available. The follow up projects will focus on: Green Jobs, Careers in Science and Engineering for the future.
£27,000 to Primary Engineer who will be delivering their ‘Primary Engineer Construction Project’ in up to 20 schools across the Fund’s area of benefit.
Teachers attend a practical, online CPD course and are provided with sets of tools and consumables to deliver both the Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 projects.
2022
In 2022, £90,680 was awarded as follows:
£42,664 to C-STEM to deliver the upcoming season of the FIRST LEGO League Challenge to schools across Cumbria, which is a global STEM programme for teams of young people.
The competition is aimed at helping young people develop their critical thinking, coding and design skills through hands-on learning. Participants gain real-world problem-solving experience through a guided, global robotics program, helping students develop key skills that are crucial for their future careers.
The competition begins in September 2022 and the regional finals will be held in February 2023. Local, successful teams have the opportunity of competing at the National finals with the chance of winning a place, representing the UK at the World finals later next year.
£48,016 to Lancaster and Morecambe College.
The grant will be used to create a “renewable energy demonstration area” located within a newly created sustainable energy centre at the College. It will be designed to demonstrate the latest technology, promoting awareness of renewable energy, future skills requirements including green jobs available within the local community.
2021
In 2021, £77,035 was awarded as follows:
£25,000 was awarded to Learning Hydro Limited to deliver a series of single day training events to senior pupils in some 12 schools and colleges within the funds benefit area.
To emphasise the application of STEM subjects in the context of designing small scale hydropower schemes.
£29,035 was awarded to Morecombe Bay Partnerships to deliver their ‘Defending the Docks’ project.
A military heritage community recording project rooted in STEM learning and skills development for young people. Working with young adults, schools and volunteers, this project will foster skills particularly in computer science, digital technology, coding, virtual reality, mathematical surveying, engineering design and study of materials to scientifically record World War archaeology remains on Walney Island in Barrow.
£23,000 was awarded to 3D Web Technologies to deliver their highly successful ‘Design a Windfarm in Virtual Reality’ sessions to over 360 pupils at 12 schools within the funding area.
It will be a teamwork activity involving: Maths, IT, Engineering, Graphic Design & Presentation Skills using innovative, engaging Virtual Reality technology. The project will be based upon a resource package developed and utilised by 3DW under a previous workshop delivery series created to support Ørsted offshore projects.
2020
In 2020, £103,420 was awarded as follows:
£40,000 of funding was approved to Furness College to help finance course fees for four specific Engineering qualifications.
The courses are available to students struggling to find employment or wanting to retrain in an engineering discipline but who might have struggled to self-finance the courses themselves.
£34,020 was awarded to Furness Education and Skills Partnership (FESP) to fund the ‘Furness Futures’ project.
FESP work with schools in Barrow in Furness and the surrounding areas of the Furness Peninsular of Cumbria.
The project will build on earlier work which has developed an extra-curricular careers and employability programme covering KS2 and KS4. This new phase of the project will roll out the newly designed KS1 and KS3 units. This ‘layered’ approach which now covers KS1 to KS4 is intended to maximise impact and increase the life chances/success in careers for young people in Cumbria.
The project will run throughout the academic year 2020/2021.
£29,400 was awarded to STEMFirst to deliver a ‘Bridge the Gap’ educational game to school children aged between 7 – 14.
It is a fun hands-on board game in two parts. Part one involves constructing a bridge (with Lego) across a local river. Part two is a game requiring use of all the skills useful to employees of the future and improves knowledge of local employment opportunities.
The project will run over a 12-month period.
2019
In 2019, £102,407 was divided into the following three strands:
1. Hardship Fund – £12,000
- Lancaster & Morecambe College – £6,000
- Furness College – £6,000
2. Engineering Course – £39,140 was awarded to Furness College to support the costs of a selection of Engineering Courses at Furness College.
Specifically, National Diploma Elec or Mech; HNC Engineering Elec or Mech; BENG Ordinary Degree; BENG Engineering Hons Degree for students starting the 2019 Academic Year.
3. The STEM Education Fund – £51,267
An award of nearly £37,267 to STEM Learning Ltd to develop two ENTHUSE Partnership projects in Cumbria and Lancaster.
Each Partnership will bring together eight schools and colleges from within the eligible funding area, to develop a two-year intensive improvement programme to raise achievement and aspiration in STEM subjects.
An award of £14,000 to the Science Learning Partnership to support the introduction and running of a STEM project for eleven schools that make up the Furness Education Consortium.
Over 600 pupils will be encouraged to work on a project and prepare for an interschool competition which involves students using the key employability skills supported by STEM.
2018
In 2018, £101,416 was divided into the following three strands:
1. Hardship Fund – £13,299
- Lancaster & Morecambe College – £6,649
- Furness College – £6,650
2. Engineering Course – £36,617 was awarded to Furness College to support the costs of a selection of Engineering Courses at Furness College.
Specifically, National Diploma Elec or Mech; HNC Engineering Elec or Mech; BENG Ordinary Degree; BENG Engineering Hons Degree for students starting the 2018 Academic Year.
3. The STEM Education Fund – £51,500
£1,500 was awarded to Barrow & District Association of Engineering Committee towards the delivery of the BDAE Design Technology Competition.
£20,400 has been awarded to Scientists for Global Responsibility to deliver workshops entitled “One Planet – One Life” across secondary schools in the funding area over a two-year period.
The interactive workshops will involve over 1,000 young people and aim to give a better understanding of the human contribution to climate change, and how a combination of technological and behavioural solution are needed to address this impact.
£29,600 has been awarded to 3D Web Technologies Ltd, to deliver twelve STEM skill-focused workshops for year eight pupils.
This project aims to give students an engaging, balanced and educationally valuable bigger picture insight into the complexities of offshore wind farm design. In small teams, pupils will be experiencing what it’s like to work on a wind farm development for the day. The teams will create their own ‘company’ with each member having a specific role such as Project Manager, Financial Manager, Technical Adviser or Public Relations (PR) Consultant. They will have to plan and design a wind farm layout considering real-life constraints and obstacles.
2016 / 2017
In 2016, £84,296 was divided into the following three strands:
1. Hardship Fund – £20,000
An initial £20,000 was split across three colleges to help support students facing financial difficulties in getting to college or paying for course materials etc.). The three colleges that received grants were:
- Blackpool and Fylde College
- Furness College
- Lancaster and Morecombe College
2. Engineering Course – £19,454
Grant awarded to Furness College in Barrow to help finance course fees for four specific Engineering qualifications. The courses were available to students struggling to find employment or wanting to retrain in an engineering discipline but who might have struggled to self-finance the courses themselves.
3. The STEM Education Fund – £44,844
£44,844 was awarded to the Royal Academy of Engineering for the Furness Education & Skills Partnership and Barrow Engineering Project.
This followed a competitive bidding process which encouraged experienced organisations to apply for a grant to develop and deliver extra curriculum STEM training and/or education courses or a programme of targeted events for up to two years.
The grant allowed the Royal Academy (through the project) to recruit two local Coordinators to deliver a range of activities to support STEM education and helped build closer relationships between schools and employers over a two year period.