What a busy but very exciting four months at Primary Engineer HQ!

Between November 2018 and February 2019, we have travelled 14,790 miles throughout the UK, training 371 schools and 590 teachers in the Primary Engineer® Programmes.  We’ve visited new cities, towns and even countries; including Belfast, Cardiff and The Isle of Wight, created and rolled out new programmes and have successfully built on the work we have previously completed in established areas, bridging the gap between industry and education and inspiring more children with STEM.

(Hitachi Rail Project training)

Since the new academic year, 50 schools had been given the opportunity from across five areas in the UK; Ashford, Doncaster, North Pole, Stoke Gifford and Newton Aycliffe to participate in the Primary Engineer Rail programme with our partner Hitachi Rail.  All these schools have now been trained in a design and make locomotive project. The locomotive should be able to travel down a ramp and must stop within a given distance at the station or travel under battery power, utilising circuit building skills, pulling carriages of varying weights.

Felna Fox, a teacher at James Allen’s Preparatory School said, “I just wanted to thank you so very much for an amazing inset yesterday, it was great to see so many underfunded primary schools receive all the resources they needed to inspire more children to consider engineering at a crucial foundational stage of their learning. This morning I showed my Y5 class the KS2 model we completed, and they were incredibly enthusiastic about making it in the near future. I feel truly honoured to have been a part of it.” 

(GE Caledonian Celebration)

Our first celebration event of the 2018-2019 academic year took place in December at Holmston Primary School in Ayrshire.  As always, it is such a delight seeing the children with their vehicles and to see how much they have learnt about engineering.  The event itself was funded by GE Caledonian who also provided engineers to be judges and a plane engine for the children to explore and ask questions A nine year old student from Kincaidston Primary School entered the celebration at the Engineer level and commented, “The best part about the project has been building the car and learning about engineering.  My favourite part of the celebration event today has been seeing everybody having so much fun.  It is amazing!”

(Lighthouse project training)

The new year saw the introduction of our latest program; The Lighthouse Project.  This event was piloted in Edinburgh and funded by The University of Edinburgh with many schools across the city that have engaged in our programs previously.   The new project, as with our other programs, allows teachers to develop skills, both practical and cognitive with their pupils as they use and apply maths and science through a design and make project. They can link the lighthouse project to learning themes and deliver cross-curricular teaching and learning through engineering. The project incorporates electricity and circuits, using renewable energy sources for power and extension activities will use coding for control all within a civil engineering project.

Linsey Young, a teacher at James Gillespie’s Primary School in Edinburgh said, “Thanks for providing such an amazing course! Great to work alongside the engineers and share ideas about design, learn some useful technical language and the project will be great fun to deliver!”  We look forward to seeing everyone’s lighthouses at the celebration event on Thursday 23^rd May 2019 at University of Edinburgh!

(Cardiff training)

Thank you to the 224 engineers that have volunteered their time throughout this four month period, it is great to see the two industries working together.  It seemed both the teachers and engineers benefitted from this with several teachers commenting how it helped build their confidence on an area they hadn’t previously had much (if any) exposure to and many engineers have said it was a great opportunity to inspire the future generation of engineers.

As we approach ‘Celebration Season’, good luck to all the teams attending an event this Spring/Summer, we can’t wait to see your models and hear all about what you have learnt!

(CEA Training)

The post Your Training Update first appeared on Primary Engineer.

Thousands of young people to benefit from ground breaking engineering programme with global rail giant

• Almost 3,000 children aged 5-11 from Ashford, Doncaster, Bristol, Newton Aycliffe and West London to learn about engineering
• Unique partnership announced between Hitachi Rail, Primary Engineer and 50 schools
• Programme aims to inspire the next generation to meet the UK’s growing engineering skills gap

Hitachi Rail is launching a brand new educational programme with Primary Engineer that will see 2,700 5 to 11 year olds learn about engineering with the help of experts in the field

The announcement comes during Rail Week (8-14 Oct) and the initiative is part of the Year of Engineering campaign. It aims to help tackle a serious shortage of engineers in the UK. On current projections, there will be a gap of 55,000 engineers and skilled workers by 2020, according to the Strategic Transport Apprenticeship Taskforce, with not enough qualified people to deliver key national projects like HS2, Heathrow expansion and Crossrail 2.

The scheme will eventually see 50 schools from Ashford, Doncaster, Bristol, Newton Aycliffe and West London partner with engineers from Hitachi’s nearby train depots.

This week the teachers in the first four locations are receiving their training and this will be followed by a further session at Hitachi’s train manufacturing facility in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, where new fleets of trains are being delivered for passengers across the country.

This is the first time that Primary Engineer has partnered with a train manufacturer to develop one of its school programmes.

The global rail giant recognises the importance of working with schools to raise awareness of the range of exciting careers that are available in the industry. It chose to partner with Primary Engineer due to its excellent work over the last 13 years creating engineering programmes spanning Early Years, Primary, Secondary and Further Education institutions.

During the joint sessions, the teachers and the Hitachi team will learn how to deliver a curriculum-linked rail engineering project that a whole class can take part in. The KS1 project will use a shoe-box train while KS2’s train will be electrically-powered.

The project supports practical STEM learning (science, technology, engineering and maths) and offers primary pupils an invaluable opportunity to work directly with Hitachi engineers in the classroom.

There is also a competitive element to spark the children’s engineering ingenuity and creativity. And as a forum to celebrate their engineering skills and achievements, teams of pupils from the schools will attend two celebration events in 2019 run by Primary Engineer to test the rail vehicles and showcase their efforts with the Hitachi Rail engineer judges.

Year of Engineering Minister, Nusrat Ghani, said:

“The Year of Engineering is a chance to show young people that engineering is all around us – from how we keep in touch to the ways we travel. Working in partnership with industry and the education and charity sectors to inspire young people from all backgrounds is at the heart of the campaign, and this new programme from Hitachi Rail and Primary Engineer is a fantastic demonstration of what that can achieve.

“By bringing children across the UK face to face with real engineers and engineering challenges, I have no doubt that the programme will inspire many young inventors, creators and problem-solvers to take a closer look at the amazing ways they could shape the future as engineers.”

Hitachi Rail Managing Director, Karen Boswell, said:

“We are absolutely committed to developing UK skills in order to grow our business and support the Government’s Industrial Strategy.

“To be able to give thousands of young people a chance to be inspired by the pioneering work we do at our factory and depots across the country is fantastic. STEM education is critically important and I’m thrilled that Hitachi Rail is the first train builder to join in a partnership with Primary Engineer to support the great work they do in our schools.”

Founder and Chief Executive of Primary Engineer, Dr Susan Scurlock, said:

“The opportunity to work with Hitachi Rail using their trains and engineers to inspire children, teachers and the wider community have been incredible. We are very proud to be taking this project into schools and opening a whole new area of careers to young people.”

http://press.hitachirail-eu.com/pressreleases/thousands-of-young-people-to-benefit-from-ground-breaking-engineering-programme-with-global-rail-giant-2756558

The post Hitachi Rail Project first appeared on Primary Engineer.