EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  Magna Science Adventure Centre is a Landmark Millennium Project that opened in Easter 2001 at a capital cost of £46 million. It is situated in the old Templeborough rolling steel mill in Rotherham and combines science learning within a cultural heritage setting.

  Magna is a combination of 3 businesses; education centre, visitor attraction and corporate hospitality all interlinked into one overall business. Due to the peaks and troughs of each business they proved to be complimentary to each.

  This financial year (2007-08) Magna has budgeted to make a surplus of £35,000 from a turnover of £2.9 million. It has budgeted for 162,700 visitors and 25,500 school children this financial year (2 Easters in the year).

  Magna launched its new £2.7 million corporate development in March 2007 to supplement its corporate hospitality business. This part of the business subsidises the remainder of the business and in order to match fund the development Magna had to sell off the land that it owned and no longer has any assets to sell for any future developments. Magna receives no revenue funding and generates all its own income. Being in an old steel mill makes Magna's operational costs high and there is a need for both revenue and capital funding if it is to operate more efficiently and in order to strategically plan for future developments.

ROLE OF SCIENCE CENTRES IN PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

  Magna engaged with 154,843 visitors and 28,208 school children last financial year (2006-07) and has budgeted to have 162,700 visitors and 26,000 school children this financial year (2007-08). There are two Easter holidays this financial year. These visitors engage with interactive exhibits in a hands on way which engages them with the science behind the Earth, Water, Fire and Air pavilions.

ATTRACTING YOUNG PEOPLE TO SCIENCE SUBJECTS AND SCIENTIFIC CAREERS

  We also run special workshops for the different key stages of the national curriculum so that the children have the relevant science education taught to them in a more fun and engaging way which leads to better retention of the learning points. During the school holidays and weekends we run similar workshops for the whole family so that everybody in the party has engaged with a scientific topic whether it is climate change or waste water.

  We also operate an outreach service to schools, primarily KS1 and KS2, which engages the school children in the science of the normal everyday kitchen. This service has widened Magna's catchment area considerably with schools being visited in the North West, North East, Midlands as well as Yorkshire and the Humber. This captures children's imaginations from the earliest years to the excitement behind science. We then work with the local engineering and steel making companies, local education authorities, colleges and engineering associations to work with secondary schools in setting design competitions or science projects to retain that interest and love of science in relation to career and higher education options.

  Magna is part of Rotherham's highly acclaimed "Investors in Education" scheme which highlights the career and educational opportunities for school children when planning their future options at school and choices of career.

FUNDING

  Magna's education programme operates at a deficit of £150,000 per annum without taking into account any of the building costs. It has to make a charge of £4+ VAT per child per school visit but can not charge more as the parents are already having to pay this price plus the cost of transport, which is rising rapidly. Magna is in direct competition for school visits from local museums and national museums, which are both subsidised (free of charge) yet these museums are not attracting people into the sciences or engineering.

  Magna is fortunate in that its corporate hospitality business subsidises the education and visitor attraction businesses. However, this is a very competitive market and it would only take a downturn in business to jeopardise the whole operation. Both capital funding and revenue funding is required to refresh the exhibitions and keep them up to date and also to enable Magna to confidently plan ahead.

June 2007