SMCC Racing is the F1 in Schools program at St. Mary’s Catholic College, Wirral, Merseyside, a school with a student population approximately 1200. We are part of a rapidly growing school multi-academy-trust with a population of approximately 5000 students and staff. Becoming a partner with us, you will have your business exposed to staff and parents across our school and the trust. With the potential of direct marketing to approximately 8000 parents/carers and guardians, showing that you invest in an exciting extra-curricular club, in an impoverished community with a high SEN cohort, means you are a business that cares, and that boost to reputation leads to new opportunities and relationships. This is a unique opportunity and these students need your support.
Target Audience
Students are aged 11-18 and attend a Catholic non-selective High School. We have approximately 1200 students. We are part of an expanding multi-academy-trust with over 5000 staff and students. Our growing program peaked at 40 students this year, but the program attracts the attention of the entire school. Parents/Carers/Guardians are all interested in our development and growth and avidly follow our newsletters and visit our website and social media accounts.
Key Dates and Timings
Sponsorship would last a full season, which is June to June. While regional competition concludes in January, national competition concludes in May, and if successful there, the international finals are the following year. Once our season finishes, the program will still operate internally, with several events planned.
Specific Opportunity Details
F1 in Schools is a global competition where student teams aged 11-18, Design, Make and Race a model F1 Car. The experience is not just about the Engineering of the car, but also the Design, Project Management, Social Skills, Presentation Skills, Research, Testing and much more!
For the past 2 years we have competed at the North West Regional Finals winning Fastest Car and the Judges Award (2023) which is an incredible achievement for a school that resides within the top 10% poverty in the UK, with a large portion of our school having students who are vulnerable, and an ever growing SEND population.
Finding sponsors and collaborating with companies is a large portion of the judging criteria and is an area of difficulty for our teams, which is why we are seeking sponsors both financial and product. We have recently launched our website as a way of keeping the community updated, but it is also a judging criteria. We have an X (formerly Twitter) account which is slowly growing and the teams have put together an instagram account and a tik tok account. These are new to the program and will grow as the teams are more successful.
Should we get to the National Finals, then the exposure and support for the team grows exponentially, which national exposure to hundreds of thousands of potential new customers. With sponsors, we are unable to afford to compete at the highest level, nor can we give these students the experiences that will literally change their lives.
Features and Benefits
Depending on the value of the sponsorship would depend on the return. Opportunities include full page spreads on our MAT's newsletter that goes out to all parents and staff. Listing on the internal staff dashboard that spreads across the MAT. Logos on shirts and team uniforms. Exposure on websites and social media. Your promotional material on display at the regional and national events. Logos on the racing car itself, which is videoed and photographed by the F1 in Schools team and shared on their social media accounts with a total of over 5000 followers. We have events planned such as a race night with presentation booths for our sponsors.
Other Partners
As we are a fairly new program, we are supported mostly by small businesses. Our partners include: Aston University (Birmingham), Subway, a local judo club, cafe, hairdresser and computer repair store.
Investment
We need a minimum of £5000 for the season. This covers manufacturing, transport and materials. The top amount is unspecified because there are items we would like to purchase, such as parts to repair our CNC router (£2k) and a new school bus (£10k) all the way to our own race track (£20k). SMCC Racing (our internal program name) could easily change to [Your Name] Racing.