Primary Liaison

Each year at Chelmer Valley High School we invite all of our feeder primaries to send their Year 5 girls to take part in an engineering event. This year’s theme was ‘Green Engineering’ and the girls were asked to bring a selection of carrier bags with them for a mystery challenge!

Engineering is often looked upon as being male only career with pre conceived ideas of fixing engines and welding cars, thankfully this is not the complete picture. Engineering is a very important and prestigious profession, equal to that of doctors, lawyers and teachers.

The ‘Girls in Engineering’ event addresses the gender imbalance in the engineering sector by allowing girls only to take part in a range of exciting activities.

Before the engineering students were let loose at Chelmer Valley High School they were put into groups, these groups had ‘Green Engineering’ names and were accompanied by Chelmer Valley High School student helpers.

 In Mathematics, students were calculating the impact their holidays and day to day travel were having on the environment, the ‘Carbon Footprint’ was calculated using an online resource and then methods to improve this were investigated. Students were then given the opportunity to build a method of transport from drinking straws, with a focus on the accuracy of scale.

The students had been asked to bring a selection of carrier bags to the Technology aspect of the event, why you might ask? The challenge was to design and manufacture a piece of high fashion clothing using only recycled materials, bags, paper, card etc. The girls divided themselves into design teams and got down to the task of producing the next catwalk wonder. Within 90 minutes all teams had produced stunning items of clothing that would be later modelled in Drama.

Music is not often directly associated with engineering but the young engineers soon became aware of the complexity of instrument design and the deep engineering roots that music has. During the session the students were allowed to make as much noise (music!?) as possible, as they were producing their own version of the west-end hit show, Stomp. Dustbin lids and brooms amongst other ‘non instruments’ were in great supply during the musical session, the culmination of which included a Recycling Rap and a group performance of the Stomp remake.

The backstage workings of the Royal Albert Hall and the stage design and construction of Wembley Stadium are far from the initial belittling concepts of engineering that most people have. However, engineering plays as much of a part in the Drama scene as acting! The girls were shown around the state of the art Drama facilities at Chelmer Valley before rehearsing and performing their very own catwalk show. The show was photographed and filmed, allowing CVHS a chance to lay claim to the next Donna Karen or Vivienne Westwood!

Science is at the heart of engineering, and this was not forgotten in the ‘Girls in Engineering’ event. The student engineers were taught the intricate details of sustainable and renewable energy sources before being producing their own electricity using water turbines, wind turbines and solar ovens. I’m not entirely sure that all scientists investigate the practicalities of water turbines whilst leaning over a sink with a fizzy drinks bottle and getting soaking wet, but it worked for the young engineering students who very successfully produced and measured a useable amount of power.