More than funding
Our bursaries make industry-backed skills development accessible to those who’ll benefit most.
Making STEM accessible
We’re on a mission to give every young person the chance to “go pro” in STEM. Together with industry partners, we remove barriers to participation by:
- Providing bursaries to offset the cost of robotics kits
- Ensuring our events are free for everyone
- Offering travel grants
If you’re a non-fee-paying school or a nationally recognised youth group, you can apply for a bursary, which provides your organisation with access to our programme’s STEM provision, worth £3,000 for 15 young people.
“These young people come from areas where there are not a lot of opportunities, but this challenge gives them life experience. They get to do things here that they’d only do at university, and this experience is also inspiring many of them to pursue further studies at university.”
Karl Mahon, Teacher, Chiswick School
Grab a bursary
We offer tiered financial support to ensure we support those who’ll benefit most.
| Full bursary | Partial bursary | Self-funded | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robotics kit (one-off) | Covered | £300 | £1,200 |
| Commitment fee (annual) | £399 | £399 | £399 |
| Total (VAT incl) | £399 | £699 | £1,599 |
You can apply for financial support, if eligible, when registering a team. Bursaries are limited and awarded against an objective needs assessment.
What you need to know
If applying for financial support, you should read these FAQs before registering a team.
Am I eligible for financial support?
Our bursary scheme is open to:
- Non-fee-paying DfE, DoE or Education Scotland-registered schools, SEND/ASN/ALN settings and Alternative Providers supporting young people aged 12–18
- Registered youth organisations (including CICs, charities, non-profits and private limited companies) supporting young people aged 12–18 with a safeguarding policy
Fee-paying schools and home education groups can participate, but are ineligible for financial support.
How do I apply for financial support?
Applications for financial support are made as part of your team registration.
You will be asked to tell us about the young people you will strive to engage in the programme and how you will deliver it, and the impact the programme will have on your organisation.
Bursary applications are assessed against our targeting criteria and scored against an objective framework.
To maximise the programme’s impact and sustainability, approval from a member of the SLT is required to participate. The name and email of the sponsoring staff member must be submitted at registration.
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What is the commitment fee?
All teams, including those awarded a bursary, must pay a £399 (incl VAT) commitment fee to participate. This fee ensures £3,000 of STEM enrichment provision per team.
The commitment fee covers:
- This season’s game pieces
- Educational content and resources
- Support from a local Champion Organisation
- Access to an industry mentor
- Participation in community engagement activities
- Free events – local practice, regional tournament and a UK champs
- Access to training
- Access to awards and accreditation
- Opportunity to apply for travel grants, where eligible
What do I pay and when?
Existing team
If you’ve participated previously and have a robotics kit, you simply re-register your team and pay the £399 commitment fee.
New teams
New teams will be issued with an invoice for either:
- Full bursary £399 (incl VAT)
- Partial bursary £699 (incl VAT)
- No bursary £1,599 (incl VAT)
Invoices must be paid within 30 days of receipt, or the bursary/participation may be forfeited.
Additional teams at your org
If you’d like more than one team at your organisation, the commitment fee is £199 (incl VAT) per additional team.
What are the key deadlines?
Our bursary scheme opens with registration.
- Hear back on the outcome of your bursary within 14 days
- Accept the bursary within 7 days of being notified or it may be forfeited
- Pay any invoice within 30 days of receipt
Can I have more than one team?
Absolutely! However, organisations will only ever receive a maximum of one new bursary (full or partial) per year.
There is no limit to how many self-funded teams an organisation can establish.
Additional teams benefit from a reduced commitment fee of £199 per year.
The kit that keeps on giving
Our reusable robotics kits from REV Robotics squeeze in over 1,400 parts – plus a control hub for programming and a driver station with controllers. Robotics kits can normally cost thousands of pounds but our industry-backed bursary scheme makes them accessible.
Inclusion Partner
If you haven’t heard of Arm, you’ve definitely held their technology in your hands. Their chips make our robots intelligent, their generosity powers bursaries to make STEM more inclusive and their people mentor our teams.
Collaborators
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UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), working to support science, research and business innovation in the UK.
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The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology accelerates innovation, investment and productivity through world-class science, driving forward a modern digital government for the UK.
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The Skills Builder Partnership includes 600+ schools and colleges, 200+ impact organisations and 100+ top employers – working collectively towards the mission that one day, everyone will build the essential skills to succeed. Their work is underpinned by the Skills Builder Universal Framework, which shows how to build essential skills at every stage of life.
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Smiths designs, manufactures and delivers engineering solutions for mission-critical applications, solving some of the world’s toughest problems for customers, communities and our world.
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Purposeful Ventures partners with social entrepreneurs and philanthropists to improve the education and well-being of young people from their earliest years. We do this by selecting, accelerating and, where we find a gap, incubating organisations which tackle particular issues. Together, we test and scale effective solutions and influence system change.
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Marshall Wace is a leading provider of alternative investment solutions, dedicated to creating long-term relationships with their clients built on trust and integrity. They are on a continuous quest for improvement and innovation.
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Established in 1958, the Garfield Weston Foundation is a family-founded grant-maker that gives money to support a wide variety of charities across the UK. Since it was established, it has donated over £1.5 billion, of which over half has been given away in the past 10 years.
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Since 2018, the Intuitive Foundation has been dedicated to promoting health and advancing education through grants for a range of purposes, including science, technology, engineering and maths-related educational programmes.
By paying the real Living Wage, employers are voluntarily taking a stand to ensure their employees can earn a wage which is enough to live on.
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RTX is accelerating ideas to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges by bringing together the brightest, most innovative minds across aerospace and defense. They push the limits of known science and redefine how we connect and protect our world.
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The Gene Haas Foundation was established in 1999, by Gene Haas, founder and owner of Haas Automation, Inc., to support the needs of the local community.
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CREST is the British Science Association’s scheme for STEM project work that inspires young people to think and behave like scientists and engineers.
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Bloomberg, the global business and financial information and news leader, gives influential decision makers a critical edge by connecting them to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas.
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Industrial Cadets is a nationally recognised scheme connecting young people with employers to run accredited experiences across the UK.
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The Department for Education’s vision is for an education system that prepares young people for life in modern Britain, regardless of their background or where they grow up.
Inclusion partner
Arm architects the pervasive intelligence. Arm-based chips and device architectures orchestrate the performance of the technology.
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We are engineers, scientists and strategists. We come from diverse cultures and have unique perspectives. We focus on a single goal – invent mobile technology breakthroughs.
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