Silverstone Museum launches free STEM workshops for schools
Real F1 technology will be brought into classrooms nationwide
Silverstone Museum based in Towcester is set to take its hands‑on motorsport STEM education programme on the road, offering schools across the UK the chance to access real Formula One technology in their own classrooms.
STEM education has been a core part of the museum’s mission since before it opened, with its early development supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The on‑site programme has since grown rapidly, attracting thousands of young people each year - a level that has pushed the museum close to capacity.
Rob Jaina, who leads the programme, said this growth prompted the team to look at how they could expand their reach. “We’ve kind of hit 16,000 the last couple of years and it was really like, okay, how do we take this further?
Some schools can’t come to us and we’ve got capacity issues. How do we deliver what we’re doing in school, but also can we physically take it out to areas around the UK?”He said.
That expansion has been made possible through a new partnership with Aramco. Jaina explained: “We were very lucky to forge a relationship with Aramco, the fuel company, and they’re doing a huge amount of work on sustainable fuels and sustainability and using motorsport as that engineering vehicle,” he said.
The outreach team will travel in a newly branded vehicle, bringing authentic motorsport components and even half a Formula One car directly into schools.
The new outreach model stays true to the museum’s original philosophy of offering experiences schools cannot replicate. Jaina explained:“I wanted to do something that could not be done in schools.
“We talk about the technology, but they handle the real items… it makes the whole programme very real.”
The programme uses genuine motorsport parts from F1 wheels and brake discs to race suits and exhausts allowing pupils to explore engineering principles through tangible, high‑performance examples.
A major focus is opening up the breadth of careers in motorsport. Jaina explained, “The gaps that we're able to fulfil by doing this is really making the technology come to life, but also open up the career opportunities within the sport. Because there are hundreds of thousands of different roles that go to putting a Formula One race and a car together.”
He also said many pupils only know the sport through its star drivers: “All they've heard about are Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton… but the reality of working in motorsport, you're never going to be sipping champagne on a yacht with Lewis Hamilton, but you might be putting his car together.”
The programme, he said, offers “a chance to really talk about the careers and the in‑depth way in which the sport works,” and for younger pupils, it lets them “really handle technology, look at things in a different way that they wouldn't normally do in a science lesson.”
Test events have already taken place, with schools giving what Jaina described as “immense” feedback and “100% saying they want them back”.
Jaina said that the project aims to reach as many UK schools as possible including and will prioritise schools with higher numbers of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.
''This year we're aiming to get out to about 15,000 young people.'' He added.
The programme officially launches today (2nd March), with MPs, dignitaries and media invited to the museum for the unveiling before the outreach team begins its nationwide tour.
To find out more visit www.silverstonemuseum.co.uk