Angela Defoe and Simon Oates from LSU

STUDENTS are visiting film production companies, learning about biorobotics and developing complex video games as part of a new approach to drawing young people into technical subjects.

This new strategy aims to show students that technical subjects and the arts are not mutually exclusive and “can be done together,” according to Simon Oates, a physics teacher at La Sainte Union (LSU).

The Town Hall is pioneering this approach as part of its Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM) strategy.

At LSU in Dartmouth Park, there is a particular focus on showing young women how exciting STEAM subjects can be.

“A lot of the research we’ve read says that girls in particular tend to make their mind up about these subjects by the time they’re in Year 8 – so 12, 13 years old – that tends to be the age where they disengage from these subjects a little bit more,” Mr Oates said.

“With all kids, but especially girls, the idea that they have to choose between one or the other is sometimes a barrier to choosing STEAM subjects. Showing them they can be done together and they can be quite complementary has been powerful. We’re seeing more and more of our young people opting to do science,” he said.

Angela Defoe, LSU’s computer science lead, has organised several unusual trips for her pupils this year to show them the boundaries between arts and the sciences are more porous than they think.

LSU has taken its pupils to Oxford University as part of a training course in “pathfinding” – a complex computing technique used to map the virtual worlds of video games.

Students have also visited UCL’s biorobotics lab to learn about “how the movement of animals can be simulated in robotics”, and experienced working life at Sky Studios.

Ms Defoe said: “We focused on students who study drama and performance alongside IT and computing. As we walked into the studios, it was the combination of the both. Nothing is done in ­isolation: you have to have a combination of different skills. That was a game-changer.”

Teachers play a vital role in sparking the imagination of their students but across the country, there is a recruitment crisis unfolding in most technical subjects.

Speaking in his capacity as a union member, Mr Oates said: “It needs to become a more attractive role, especially for people in STEM subjects – we’re competing with the corporate world. The earning potential there is so much higher.”

Teachers are also leaving the profession after fewer than five years. Giving new teachers better help managing their workloads is a way this trend could be combated, Mr Oates suggested. Meanwhile, teachers working in London are facing particular cost pressures.

The impacts of a teacher shortage “snowballs” across society, Mr Oates said, adding good STEAM teachers have a vital role to play in bringing about the next generation of mathematicians, astrophysicists and marine biologists.

Mr Oates said: “I fell in love with physics when I started at sixth form – I had a really fantastic teacher, and they really managed to get to me, and then I went on to do a physics degree.”