A hands-on STEM event is giving girls a clearer view of where science and technology can take them, and most importantly, the confidence to get there.
Schools Plus and Google recently teamed up at Maitland Grossmann High School in East Maitland, opening doors for girls and students in communities experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage in the Hunter Valley.
The event marks a key milestone for the school’s Orbispace Initiative, a program designed to equip Year 8 girls with the STEM and future-of-work skills needed to step confidently into tomorrow’s careers.
Ownership, not add-ons, drives lasting change
Early results point to real momentum. Confidence in STEM has climbed from 60% to 82.5%, while engagement in industry and networking opportunities has jumped from 75% to 90%. Awareness of STEM career pathways is also on the rise, lifting from 80% to 93.3%, alongside stronger retention, now sitting at 90%.
For Schools Plus CEO Sherrill Nixon, those numbers only tell part of the story.
“It’s clear this partnership has helped to shift how female students see themselves in STEM spaces and careers, and that they do in fact belong in them,” Nixon told The Educator.
“They have a role to play in solving the big challenges in their community and the world. Something can really change in a young person when they see a path made real by someone who looks like them and started where they started.”
Nixon said creating the right conditions for girls to see a future in STEM starts with consistent exposure, strong relationships and a genuine sense of belonging.
“What I’d say to school leaders is: create these opportunities wherever you can – there are many women in STEM fields who want to pay it forward and will support you,” she said.
“Aspirations can grow through sustained relationships, through repeated exposure to possibility, and through feeling genuinely supported. The retention data from Orbispace reflects that. When girls feel like they belong, they stay, and they flourish.”
Nixon said the long-term success of programs like these hinges on schools having genuine ownership of programs from the outset, rather than being handed initiatives that sit outside their core work.
“I have real empathy for principals right now. They’re being asked to carry so much, and the last thing they need is another initiative that creates more work without a strong foundation underneath it,” she said.
“Where we see the most success is when the program is owned by the school, when it’s tailored and embedded.”
Nixon said if it’s something that’s just been handed over to them without consultation, it won’t last.
“The schools we see sustain this kind of work are the ones who are involved in the creation of it from the outset.”
The other thing that makes or breaks sustainability is whether the program lives inside the school’s culture or alongside it, Nixon said.
“Programs that depend on one enthusiastic teacher, or one funding cycle, are vulnerable. The ones that endure get woven into how the school operates, so they survive staff changes, tight budgets, and the inevitable hard years,” she said.
“At the coalface, educators say the biggest barriers are often simple—and fixable.”
Girls thrive in STEM (when there is opportunity)
Shane Dryden, STEM Project Officer, Hunter Academy of STEM Excellence, said many schools are increasingly focused on lifting girls’ participation in STEM, recognising the need to break down long-standing barriers early.
“In my work with schools through the Hunter Academy of STEM Excellence, engaging more girls in STEM learning is often a high priority goal for these schools as they recognise there are barriers that exist and they would seek to remove wherever possible,” Dryden told The Educator.
“The main things that tend to hold girls back from engaging with STEM early is largely related to the availability of opportunity and having a community of women and girls that support it.”
Dryden said this means providing opportunities for girls to engage with STEM, in a space that can feel comfortable to explore without judgement around other girls, and if at all possible, with the support of a female teacher leading the way.
“They key strategies that are common amongst the schools that are doing fantastic work in this area are to have dedicated classes, extra-curriculars, events or opportunities either entirely for girls or with a priority on female student participation and strong, passionate, skilled female educators leading those.”
‘You can’t be what you can’t see’
Dryden said exposure to strong female role models is often the turning point in how girls begin to see their place in STEM.
“It’s a cliche for a reason but you can’t be what you can’t see,” he said.
“Having positive female role models in front of the students as STEM educators, industry leaders, university academics and STEM professionals make an enormous difference in changing students’ attitudes and mindsets towards STEM as a pathway for them.”
Dryden said the impact is often heard in the way students begin to talk differently about their future pathways.
“There was a lot of chatter off the back of this event at Maitland Grossmann High School about shifts in thoughts around STEM subjects,” he said, adding that ‘math wasn’t for me, but now I really want to get into it’ was a comment from one student.
“We have noticed big shifts in participation of female students in our STEM subjects over the years as a result of these types of events in the schools that I work with through the Hunter Academy of STEM Excellence.”
Building skills for challenges yet to come
Marie Efstathiou from Google.org said the Google-Schools Plus partnership is about widening access and equipping students with the skills to tackle challenges we’re only just beginning to imagine.
“Google is proud to support the STEM Initiative at Maitland Grossmann High School, the next chapter in our long and impactful partnership with Schools Plus, helping to ensure that access to these opportunities is equal for everyone, regardless of where they live,” she said.
“The skills students are learning through this program are setting them up to be the people who will design the solutions to problems we haven’t even encountered yet. STEM skills provide us with new ways of looking at challenges and new tools to scale those ideas.”