The James Kane Foundation is supporting the development of a STEM Innovation Hub at St. Mary’s College which will be a centre of excellence dedicated to raising the profile of STEM education and careers, particularly engineering, within the all-girls school and the wider community. The school’s vision is to embed innovation across the STEM curriculum, ensuring students experience STEM as engaging, relevant, and empowering.
The Hub will provide hands-on learning, industry engagement, and access to cutting-edge resources that nurture creativity, problem-solving, and entrepreneurship. By connecting students with engineering professionals and showcasing real-world applications, the school aims to challenge stereotypes and inspire young women to pursue engineering and other STEM-related careers.
This project will:
- Enable STEM-related education and career opportunities through practical workshops, mentoring, and exposure to emerging technologies and engineering disciplines.
- Support informed choices between employment and higher-level education pathways via career guidance, industry talks, and tailored resources that highlight diverse routes into engineering and STEM professions.
Importantly, the Hub will extend its impact beyond St. Mary’s College. Local primary and secondary schools, as well as community organisations, will be invited to access the facility, creating a collaborative network that promotes STEM and engineering learning across the region.
The STEM Innovation Hub will expand and enhance outreach opportunities and partnerships with industry and high education institutions. These collaborations will provide mentoring, career guidance, and exposure to emerging technologies, ensuring students make informed choices about employment and further education.
Through this initiative, students will gain confidence, skills, and knowledge to thrive in engineering and STEM fields and make empowered decisions about their future.
Mr Brendan McGinn, Principal of St Mary’s said “As Principal, and on behalf of Clare Doherty and the Technology & Design Department, we are delighted, fortunate and thankful to have received this generous funding from The James Kane Foundation. Approval of the funding recognises the ambition of the school’s STEM Hub through its planned outreach with other schools, industry and external partners, and we will proudly and rightly name the hub after the Foundation.”
In its early stages of development, we look forward to seeing how this project grows and develops going forward.