Year of engineering campaign backed by Land Rover BAR
Land Rover Bar and the 1851 Trust are running science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) sessions for school children to inspire the next generation of engineers as part of the government’s Year of Engineering initiative.
Kate Mardel from the 1851 Trust said: ‘We are supporting the government’s campaign to get more people into Stem careers as we don’t have enough engineers.
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Hide Ad‘When Sir Ben Ainslie started Land Rover Bar he wanted to employ British engineers but could not find any locally and his aspiration now is to create a centre of excellence and build the British economy.’
The Stem sessions are put on by the 1851 Trust for school groups across the country and include practical work, a lesson to understand the technology used in the boats and Q&A sessions with members of the Land Rover BAR team.
Education manager at the 1851 Trust, Bev Smith, said: ‘The point of these sessions is making what we do here at Land Rover BAR relate to the school’s curriculum.
‘It puts what the children learn at school into a real life context and gives them all the experience of learning with practical and hands on activities and in a different environment to a classroom.’
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Hide AdPupil Elissa Gilbert attended one of the STEM sessions put on by the 1851 Trust at its Tech Deck at Land Rover BAR in Portsmouth.
Speaking yesterday, the 11-year-old said: ‘I don’t really like science at school but this session has been more enjoyable than I thought.
‘I now want to be an engineer and this experience has definitely inspired me.’
Elissa was one of over 30 students from Carisbrooke College on the Isle of Wight who took part in an hydraulics workshop at the Tech Deck.
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Hide AdTeacher Charlie Dunfred said: ‘Through these sessions we have noticed the increase of children choosing Stem subjects .’
Head of engineering at BAE systems, Amelia Gould, also talked to pupils about future Stem careers.
She added: ‘We have a huge shortage of engineers and we need young people to know especially girls that there is a variety of jobs under engineering that can be done by anyone.’