Festive family fun at the University of Teesside

Nearly 800 local children and their families will be having some early Christmas fun at the University of Teesside.

Run by the University’s Meteor team, the annual Festive Family Fun Day on Sunday 12 December, from 12.30pm to 5pm, will see the invited guests take part in a variety of activities including decorating trinket boxes, watching a science-based pantomime, sporting challenges and a pop quiz. Also making a special appearance will be the Abingdon Primary School steel band, who will be playing throughout the event at the second floor of the Clarendon Link Building.

Joanne Bulmer, the Schools & Colleges Liaisons Assistant, said: "This is the third year we have run the event and it has been a major success each year. This year, the activities we have arranged are aimed at being both educational and fun. In previous years the pantomime has always been a great attraction and I am sure this year’s production, Hansel and Petal, will be as successful. We have tried to combine a wide variety of activities ranging from a computer pop quiz to art and design activities. To round the event off we have a disco in the Students Union building."

All the children invited to the day are taking part in the University’s Meteor programme. Launched in 1999 in collaboration with Middlesbrough Borough Council (funded by the Single Regeneration Budget) initially involving six primary schools in central Middlesbrough. It now involves ten primary schools and nine secondary schools from across the Tees Valley. Meteor aims to raise the aspirations of pupils, aged ten and above, by either inviting them into the University or taking activities place within their school for a series of short taster activities. Student mentors also work in schools with the pupils throughout the year, prior to a Summer School that involves a wider range of activities. The Summer School ends with a special graduation for all the children at Middlesbrough Town Hall.

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