A Bermondsey school has received 50 books about science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) thanks to a donation from a local clinical trials business.
Richmond Pharmacology founders Dr Jorg Taubel and Dr Ulrike Lorch gave Snowsfield Primary School its new reading material on National STEM Day (Wednesday, November 8).
Snowsfields Primary Co-head Zohra Benotmane said buying high-quality texts was usually an “expensive process”. “The Richmond donation is there much appreciated,” she added.
The books include a wide range of titles including ‘Dr. Maggie’s Grand Tour of the Solar System’ by Maggie Aderin-Pocock, ‘Amazing Evolution’ by Wesley Robbins and ‘Engineer Like Me’ by Dr Shini Somara.
The relationship between Snowsfields and Richmond Pharmacology is thanks to James Rickard, a parent at the school and the company’s Chief Scientific Officer.
He said: “I heard that the school was seeking local support to replenish its library and knew immediately that Richmond’s founders would want to help.
“We hope that this will be the start of a continuing relationship with Snowsfields and are already discussing plans for Richmond experts to come back to give talks to the children and their families.
“We’re always keen to help people in Southwark get excited and engaged in STEM.”
Founded in 2001, Richmond Pharmacology is a leading first-in-human clinical trials company based in Newcommen Street.
It became the first in the world to successfully treat a patient with the Nobel prize-winning CRISPR-Cas genome editing tool in 2020.
Founder Dr Ulrike Lorch said: “We hope the Snowsfields STEM books will inspire many young minds over the years ahead. Perhaps some of their readers may even grow up wanting to be research scientists like us!”
