Bring your ideas to life with the MonkMakes Servo Kit for the Microbit. This exciting competition introduces Key Stage 3 students to the thrilling world of mechatronics – the real-world engineering blending coding and electromechanical mechanisms that powers modern robotics.
The prize package includes a custom servo breakout board, three micro-servo positional motors, alligator clips, a battery pack, and a V1 microbit. You will have everything you need to control physical movement! By clipping the parts together, you can program your microbit using MakeCode blocks, JavaScript, or Python to command precise mechanical rotation. Will you build a robotic arm, an automated security gate, or a moving creature? The choice is yours!
We would like to thank the Trustees of the Tom Amos Charity who have very kindly agreed to support our work with a grant towards the annual Christmas Lectures. Now in their fourth year, the lectures have grown to be one of the biggest educational events in the county. This year we will host students from 40 schools, nearly one-third of the secondary schools in Essex, over three days.
The grant of £1,000 will go a long way towards covering the costs of these events which are offered FREE of any charge to secondary schools.
If your school would like to bring students along, we do still have some places available at all three lectures.
Go to our events pages at cses.org.uk/events to find out more.
Now in their fourth year, the Society's annual free Christmas Lectures for schools have become one of the biggest educational events in Essex. The lectures are proving increasingly popular and this year (2026) we hope to host nearly 2,000 students over three days at ARU. We could not stage these events without the help of our volunteers so, if you can spare some time, please let us know if you would be able to help.
On Monday 7th December the subject will be Mathematics, on Tuesday 8th December it will be Geology and on Friday 11th December it will be Astronomy. If you could help on any, or all, of these days we would be most grateful to see you there. The events are not too testing and the main activity will be directing schools and students to where they need to be. There will be two sessions on each day, morning and afternoon, and we will provide vouchers for lunch if you are able to be there.
You are, of course, also welcome to sit in on the lectures if you wish.
If you can help us please get in touch at
