Automotive businesses help to deliver Primary Engineer Vehicle Programme in North East England

A generation of potential young engineers is set to be unearthed, as award-winning Port of Tyne and Adient Seating, donate £3,000 to Primary Engineer to support local North East England schools.

The companies were winners at the North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA) annual awards 2023 and chose to donated their prize money to bring the Primary Engineer Vehicle Programme to schools, teachers, pupils and engineers in the North East during the 2023/2024 academic year.

This programme will establish meaningful links between engineering and schools, the foundation of which is based on training teachers and partnering them with engineering professionals. Port of Tyne is partnering with Lord Blyton Primary School in South Shields whilst Adient Seating has supported Fulwell Junior School.

Primary Engineer is an educational not-for-profit organisation founded in 2005, which aims to engage both primary and secondary school pupils and teachers with the vast and inspirational world of engineering and technology. It works with businesses and industry across the UK to help develop a future, diverse generation of engineering and technology professionals.

Paul Butler, chief executive of the NEAA, said: “Our annual awards recognise excellence across companies and individuals in the automotive sector. We are passionate about skills and promoting the automotive sector as a career choice and this includes starting from school age. When we launched the awards in 2018, we made sure schools and STEM engagement programmes were beneficiaries. To help raise the profile of STEM careers amongst young pupils, companies must select a school or programme to donate their winning funds to.

“Adient Seating UK won the Employer of the Year Award in 2023, agreeing to donate £2,000 to Primary Engineer. Port of Tyne won the Sustainability Award 2023 (multi-national category) and also chose to work with Primary Engineer as the beneficiary of its £1,000 donation.”

The Primary Engineer Vehicle Programme provides STEM-based professional development for two teachers in a Primary school. This cross-curricular programme allows pupils to build and test their own vehicle models while getting to interact with engineering professionals in class, as well as attending a joint school event as they celebrate their achievements at the end of the programme. The kits come in two levels designed to allow Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 classes to participate in the project.

All teachers on the programme receive free kit for 30 vehicle project builds – enough for 60 children working in pairs, one full day training, preparing them to deliver the project in class and a full set of classroom resources and online guides.

Once signed up, teachers receive their training date where they will join the rest of the cohort to learn all the skills required to teach engineering in the classroom. The full-day training is highly practical and informative and aimed at not only providing training but also increasing confidence in delivering STEM based, whole class, projects.

The programme concludes with a celebration event that sees some of the pupils put their engineering skills to the test against other participating schools. The North East celebration event was held at Sunderland University CitySpace Building at the end of February, bringing together teams from the participating schools to compete, with Adient Seating and Port of Tyne representatives helping as judges.

Nathalie Cachet-Gaujard, Head of Partnerships – North of England, said: “We are delighted to work with NEAA and their members on the Primary Engineer Vehicles Programme. Whilst the teachers are trained to deliver the programme in the classroom, industry engagement plays a crucial role as it brings the real-world into the classroom and raises awareness and understanding of the wide world of engineering and technology and the breadth of career opportunities it offers. In addition, many employers find the programme an ideal platform for personal development and STEM engagement of their early career talent.

“We are delighted that this academic year Adient Seating UK and Port of Tyne have supported schools in their local area and I thoroughly enjoyed the recent North East celebration event when pupils came together to showcase and compete with their builds. Thank you to the NEAA and both sponsor companies for supporting this inspiring event.”