Engineering came alive recently for over 50 girls aged between 6 and 16 in the form of bridges, aerodynamic helmets and Typhoon combat aircraft.
Girls from Macclesfield High, Congleton High and Bollington’s Dean Valley primary school took part in an intensive engineering week organised by Stephanie Anforth, Education Partnerships Manager of BAE Systems and Kay Lees, Project Manager of Macclesfield College’s ‘Engineering – Girls Can Do It Too’ project.
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| Y10 Girls at BAE Systems in Warton with Richard Hamer, Kay Lees (right) and Stephanie Anforth (far right) |
Year 8s from Macclesfield High and Congleton High School spent time at Macclesfield College transforming basic workmen’s helmets into aerodynamic headgear using simple materials such as string, putty and crepe paper to discover how design and construction impact on airflows.
Later in the week the girls went to BAE Systems training centre in Preston and saw firsthand where their apprentices train and the environment they learn in. In the afternoon they presented their projects to Dave Hicks, BAE Systems Training Manager. There was an overall prize for the best design and PowerPoint presentation, which was won by the ‘Bald Head Rubbin’ Rokkin Noses Gals’ from Macclesfield High School, despite having the most bizarre team name going!
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| Year 8s from Macclesfield High School making their aerodynamic helmets |
Year 10 girls from Macclesfield High and Congleton High School went to BAE Systems in Warton where 37% of Europe’s Typhoon combat aircraft are produced. Richard Hamer, BAE Systems Education Director, accompanied the girls on a tour of the site where they saw Typhoons in production and looked inside a ‘Red Arrows’ aircraft to see the pilot’s controls. They watched as the Typhoon aircraft, which are used by the RAF and NATO, went through their final stages and actually witnessed a brand new aircraft being taken on its maiden test flight.
Primary school girls from Dean Valley were inspired by an amateur dramatics production by educational specialists ‘CragRats’ in which a budding female engineer designs a bicycle with the help of her dad and a wizard. This prompted a competition between the Year 2 girls to design and draw the wizard’s castle and then construct it using straws and string. The teams “Ravin Rockets” and “The Interesting Engineers” came joint first. Year 5 girls also competed to design and make suspension, draw and swing bridges using straws, string and cardboard. They were then judged on their design and team working skills and “Weirdo’s” were chosen as the winners.
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| Dean Valley Year 5s Display Their Designs |
Kay Lees commented: “All of the girls enjoyed the week and have shown an interest in learning more about what’s available for girls in the world of engineering. BAE Systems have been extremely supportive of the project and I am sure that this week has had a positive impact on the girls”.
Macclesfield College’s ‘Engineering - Girls Can Do It Too’ project aims to show girls and their parents what is involved in modern Engineering jobs and how these exciting careers can be accessed by studying Science, Maths, Technology and Engineering.
Since September 2008 the girls have undertaken a number of engineering related events working with local engineering companies including Siemens, Airbus, Vauxhall Motors and Astra Zeneca - for more information on the project see www.macclesfield.ac.uk
