Engage LDN has designed and constructed an immersive learning environment for Sky in Scotland. The free educational environment is part of the Sky Academy project, which hopes to help over one million children by 2020, and is on track to having over 12,000 young people pass through its doors in its first year alone.
Sky Academy Skills Studio in Livingston has been designed to ensure students as young as eight-years-old can use cutting-edge technology to create bespoke news reports. Thousands of young people – including GCSE and A-Level students – have already visited the learning facility to create bespoke news bulletins for school and college projects. Students who visit the centre get a USB pen of their news report to take home to their family and friends.
Steve Blyth, founder and CEO of Engage Works, said: “Having worked with Sky before, we were excited when this amazing project presented itself. The challenge for us was to create an environment that looked and felt like a broadcast news studio, but could be used by people with little or not experience, in this case children – something that hasn’t been done before. What we’ve created is a truly immersive, fun environment where young people aged eight to 18 can use broadcast-ready cameras, green screens and touch-screen edit tables to get a taste of what it’s like to work for Sky.”
The unique, hands-on experience aims to help develop students’ life skills, like teamwork, communication, problem-solving and self-management, while inspiring and educating them about careers in broadcasting.
Speaking about the Sky Academy Skills Studio Livingston, Jack Eatherley, senior manager at Sky Academy, said: “This was an incredibly innovative and exciting project to work on and what we’ve created together with Engage is something really impressive. We’ve already had thousands of young pupils through the doors and the feedback from both teachers and young people has been phenomenal. We’re set to reach our target of helping 12,000 students in our first year and thank Engage for all their support in bringing the Sky Academy Skills Studios to life.”
This is the second Sky Academy Skills Studio in the UK. The first, which was launched at Sky’s headquarters in West London, has been incredibly popular and has already seen more than 30,000 young people pass through its doors since opening back in 2012.
Find more general information on the Engage Works website or learn about the Flux Innovation Lounge here.
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