The Oxford Trust’s new Science Education Centre is a wonderful development. To inspire young people to take an interest in science is both immensely rewarding for the individual and essential for the country.

Anyone who cares about the future success of science and technology-based enterprise in our region should support this project. It is crucial to nurture home-grown, science-literate talent to feed our future innovation ecosystem, and this new science education centre will start where it matters most – at primary level.

I’ve been involved with the Trust and its work for over thirty years. It is making a real difference to science innovation and education across the region, particularly to the numbers of young people choosing science and preparing for a science-based career.

I am very excited by The Oxford Trust’s plans to develop a science education centre for children in the Oxford region. It will help to inspire a life-long interest in science and the ways it contributes to improvements in our quality of life.

I believe that all children should have an inspiring, high quality science education. The new centre at Stansfeld Park will help facilitate just that for young people across the Oxfordshire region.

Introducing children to the excitement and possibilities that science brings is fundamental to their development and that of the nation.

Science Oxford has been bringing its workshops to Windmill Primary School for many years. We are very excited about the idea of having the new science education centre so close to our school. We can see many opportunities to use the centre to enhance our teaching of science on a regular basis, using both the planned indoor science exploration centre as well as the surrounding woodland area.

Stansfeld Park will add a new dimension to Oxfordshire’s thriving technology sector. Housing innovative start-up companies alongside an education centre will inspire the next generation of scientists and entrepreneurs. It gives me enormous pleasure to support The Oxford Trust’s bold initiative and I urge you to do the same as it play a pivotal role in supporting Oxfordshire’s science-based cluster.

This is a completely unique project, bringing together the best of Oxford’s scientific and education communities to create a new, purpose-built centre. An inspiration in itself, providing astonishing opportunities for young people to experience the natural world, to learn what biodiversity is all about, and to develop some lasting enthusiasm for environmental science. That kind of grounding is going to become more and more critical as we wrestle with today’s increasingly profound sustainability challenges.

This is a fantastically exciting project – an opportunity to bring scientists, teachers and children together, to generate interest and excitement about all areas of science. But I am particularly excited by the outdoor side of it – the chance to get a flavour of what fieldwork is like in biology, ecology and earth and environmental sciences. Not all science happens inside, in a lab!

Oxfordshire has a world-class science innovation ecosystem that presents fantastic opportunities for our young people. The new science education centre will play an important role in enabling the next generation to be part of it. The centre is totally aligned with our Strategic Economic Plan ambitions  – our local business community should put their weight right behind it.