Sciennes Primary School: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

Eimear MacLeod and Adam Paton greeted our visiting dignitaries and luminaries on Thursday 14th March and introduced them to Mrs Noble before taking them up to Ms French's Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Club in the Science Base. Pupils from the club were able to demonstrate their soldering and electronics skills, assisted by Mr Kearton and a team from the Scottish Council for Development and Industry, and to discuss their scientific learning across the array of activities provided weekly by Ms French over a number of years. We were delighted to welcome our very special guests; a wonderful accolade for Ms French and recognition of her great dedication and ability to inspire (not unlike our very special visitors!):

DAME ELLEN MACARTHUR

Dame Ellen MacArthur, Round the World Sailor and Founder of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation became the fastest person to circumnavigate the globe single-handed in 2005. She was knighted by the Queen and has received the Legion d'Honneur from French President, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Ellen is a founder of the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, set up in 2003, a charity which takes young people aged between 8-24 sailing, helping them regain their confidence after treatment for cancer and leukaemia.

In 2010 Ellen launched the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which works with education and business to accelerate the transition to a regenerative, circular economy.

SIR MICHAEL RAKE Chairman

Sir Michael Rake is Chairman of BT Group plc. He is Chairman of easyJet plc, as well as Deputy Chairman of Barclays PLC, and a director of McGraw Hill Inc. He is also chairman of the private equity oversight group the Guidelines Monitoring Committee. Mike is also Chairman of the Henley Festival and Chairman of Majid Al Futtaim Holdings LLC. He was the first Chairman of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills from 2007 to 2010. He was a director of the Financial Reporting Council from 2008 to 2011 and Chairman of Business in the Community from 2004-2007.

From May 2002 to September 2007 Sir Michael Rake was Chairman of KPMG International. Prior to his appointment as Chairman of KPMG International he was Chairman of KPMG in Europe and Senior Partner of KPMG in the UK.

He joined KPMG in 1974 and worked in Continental Europe before transferring to the Middle East to run the practice for three years in 1986. He transferred to London in 1989, became a member of the UK Board in 1991, and was elected UK Senior Partner in 1998.

Mike is also Vice President and Chairman of Governors of Wellington College, a Vice President of the RNIB, a member of the Board of the TransAtlantic Business Council, a Trustee of the Prince of Wales’ Charitable Foundation, a member of the Advisory Council for Business for New Europe, Senior Adviser for Chatham House, a member of the Baccalaureate Advisory Group and on the Global Advisory Board of the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation. Mike is also a William Pitt Fellow at Pembroke College, Cambridge and a City & Guilds Fellow. Mike was a member of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group from 2010 to 2012 and he was a member of the National Security Forum for 2009/2010 and a member of the board of the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum from 1998 to 2007.

GAVIN PATTERSON Chief Executive Officer BT Retail

Gavin Patterson was appointed chief executive of BT Retail on May 1, 2008. He joined the BT Group PLC Board on June 1, 2008.

Gavin joined BT in 2004 as managing director of BT Retail's consumer division. In this role he has been responsible for all services to BT's 15 million residential customers. Under his leadership BT has become the UK's number one broadband provider with more than 5 million customers. He has launched innovative new products including BT Total Broadband and BT Vision while transforming the financial performance of the division.

Prior to joining BT, Gavin was managing director for Telewest's consumer division with turnover of £950m. He spent four years with the company which he joined as marketing director for telephone and internet services.

Before Telewest, Gavin was at Procter & Gamble where he was European marketing director for the company's third largest brand, Pantene.

Gavin is president of the UK Advertising Association, a fellow of the Marketing Society, non-executive director of British Airways and a member of The Marketing Group of Great Britain and The Thirty Club. He went to school in Warrington and Yeovil before graduating from Emmanuel College, Cambridge with an Engineering degree. His other passion in life is Liverpool FC.

PHIL HODKINSON

Phil Hodkinson was appointed to the Board on 1 February 2006. He is chairman of the Equality of Access Board and is a member of the Nominating & Governance Committee, the Committee for Sustainable and Responsible Business, and the BT Pensions Committee. He is a non-executive director of Resolution, Travelex and Business in the Community, and a trustee of Action Medical Research and BBC Children in Need. Phil’s previous roles include chief executive of Zurich Financial Services UK Life, group finance director of HBOS, chairman of Insight Investment, chairman of Clerical Medical, non-executive director of HM Revenue & Customs and a trustee of Christian Aid. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries.

JASMINE WHITBREAD

Jasmine Whitbread was appointed to the Board on 19 January 2011. She is a member of the Committee for Sustainable and Responsible Business and the Audit & Risk Committee. She was appointed Chief executive of Save the Children International in 2010, having joined Save the Children in 2005. Jasmine held positions with Oxfam until 2005 and prior to this served as a managing director of Thomson Financial based in the US. She is a Governor of Dragon School Trust. A British and Swiss dual national.

RT HON BARONESS MARGARET JAY OF PADDINGTON

Margaret Jay’s career has combined experience at a senior level in Government and public life, the media and business. She has also worked in the voluntary sector as founder director of The National Aids Trust and as a trustee and patron of several non-government organisations, ‘ngos’, and charities.

After graduating from Oxford University in Politics, Philosophy and Economics she joined the BBC and began a twenty year career in broadcasting. She was primarily involved as a producer and journalist in news and current affairs, including as the first woman on screen correspondent for the flagship ‘Panorama’ programme. During this period she was a member of successive NHS health authorities in London and involved in local committees on health research and development.

In 1988 she was appointed as the first director of the National Aids Trust set up to monitor and develop care and information about this new threat to public health. Four years later she was appointed as a ‘working peer’ to the House of Lords by the Labour Party and held Opposition front bench posts during the 1990’s. At the same time she joined the Board of the London Broadcasting Company, and later of Carlton Television and Scottish Power. She was also on the Advisory Board of the Meteorological Office and chaired the Shopping Hours Reform Council which successfully lobbied to change the law on Sunday trading in 1994.

Since 2001 she has extended her business interests as a non executive director of British Telecom and The Independent News and Media Company. She is now the senior independent director of INM. She has also acted as a political consultant and as chair of the independent research organisation The Overseas Development Institute.

Currently Chairing the Constitution Committee, House of Lords.

LORD HASTINGS of SCARISBRICK, CBE

Michael Hastings is KPMG’s Global Head of Citizenship and Diversity. He was previously the BBC’s first Head of Corporate Social Responsibility having been the BBC’s Head of Public Affairs. Michael is a non-executive Director of British Telecom (on the Board for Responsible and Sustainable Business) and a Trustee of the Vodafone Group Foundation. He represents KPMG International on the Global Corporate Citizenship Committee of the World Economic Forum and is a Board Director of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). In 2009 he became a Member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Council on Diversity and Talent, in 2010 served on the ‘Global Agenda Council on the Next Generation’ and in 2011 has been invited to become a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Role of Business 2011.

Michael is Chairman of Millennium Promise UK and a member of the global Millennium Promise Board. He also represents KPMG on BiTC's International Leadership Board ( Business in the Community ).

In 2010 he was a leading advisor to the Chatham House enquiry into the Future Role of the UK in Foreign Affairs. Michael sits on the Council of the Overseas Development Institute in the UK and the Centre for Global Development in the USA. In 2011 he became a Vice President of UNICEF.

In January 2003, Michael was awarded a CBE ( Commander of the British Empire ) in recognition of his services to crime reduction, including 15 years as Chairman of Crime Concern and 21 as a Trustee. He served on the Commission for Racial Equality for nine years as a Commissioner. He is listed as one of the 100 most influential black people in Britain.

In 2005, Michael was awarded the honour of an independent peerage to the House of Lords by Her Majesty The Queen. In the same year he also received the UNICEF award from the then UK Chancellor for his ‘outstanding contribution to understanding and effecting solutions for Africa’s children’. Michael is President of ZANE - a development aid agency focussed on Zimbabwe.

NIALL DUNNE, CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER

Niall Dunne is Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) of BT Plc, one of the UK’s pioneers in sustainability and corporate responsibility.

Having joined BT in July 2011, Niall works with the company’s Chief Executive, Chairman and executive management team to advance BT’s leadership as a business, ensuring sustainability practices are embedded into BT's strategy, products and services.

Recognised within industry, by peers and clients alike, as one of the top young global leaders, Niall is known for championing and leading change and aligning the commercial integrity of businesses towards resolving humanities greatest challenges. Niall speaks regularly on the critical issues facing humanity and the vital role that businesses need to play in shaping the next era of our evolution.

Before joining BT, Niall spent a decade leading sustainability practices in Saatchi & Saatchi and Accenture. He is a well known and respected speaker on technical topics, such as sustainability, smart cities to green technologies, to more emotive topics such as the lessons we can learn from social movements, people empowerment and radicalism to create the next era of human evolution .

Between January 2008 to December 2010, Niall was Managing Director for Saatchi & Saatchi S in Europe, the Middle East & Africa where his experience in “next generation marketing” helped drive demand and create markets for sustainable products and services. Niall worked with some of the world’s largest and most forward thinking businesses to turn their brands into platforms to drive convergence internally and support activation and advocacy externally.

Prior to Saatchi, Niall spent eight years at Accenture, where he founded its Climate Change & Sustainability practice. He is also the founder of Bluvolution Ltd, a sustainability consultancy focused on the consumer foods and agricultural industries

Niall’s passion for change goes back to his days as one of Ireland’s top 800 metre runners. His pursuit of excellence as an athlete led to a lifelong fascination for how an individual, a team, an organisation or entire network can change for the betterment of others.

From Glenageary in Dublin, Niall Dunne is 36 years old and holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Manhattan College in New York. He has chaired the Sustainable Consumption Project Board for the World Economic Forum (2009), and the Board for the Green Awards (2010), and was recently a judge for The Guardian’s Sustainable Business Awards.

BT invested £27.6 million, in cash, time and in-kind support, to projects that directly benefitted society, last year. It maintains a gold status in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and ‘Platinum Plus’ level in the Business in the Community Corporate Responsibility Index. As one of the UK’s top 10 largest energy consumers, BT is committed to reducing its carbon footprint and is already one of the UK’s largest consumers of low carbon energy. Led by Niall Dunne, BT has a target to cut the carbon intensity of its global business by 80% from 1997 levels by 2020. To help achieve this, BT aims to generate 25% of its UK energy needs from renewable energy sources by 2016, this includes building its own wind farms.

GAVIN NEATH, CBE

Gavin has a 35 year working history with Unilever, working in four different countries with a portfolio covering both food and household products. In the last 5 years Gavin has managed Unilever’s global sustainability programme, working on issues such as climate change, deforestation, sustainable agriculture, nutrition and hygiene. The role involves managing relationships with NGOs, Intergovernmental Agencies, Academics and other opinion formers.

Most recently Gavin conceived, developed and wrote the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan – a 10 year strategy designed to enable Unilever to reduce its environmental footprint while at the same time allowing the company to double its turnover.

Gavin was awarded a CBE in the 2007 New Year’s Honours List for services to the food industry.