Bringing together business, education and students

Ten teams of four Year 2 pupils from Eastbourne schools participated in this brand new challenge event at the Congress Suite on Monday 28th June 2010.

The challenge was organised by Eastbourne Education Business Partnership on behalf of the Eastbourne & Hailsham Consortium of Schools. It follows the very successful Young Engineers event for older pupils in January.

Apprentices from HMD Seal/less Pumps and Hotchkiss have kindly agreed to help with judging along with other community volunteers. The Consortium has provided funding and Eastbourne Theatres are kindly providing the venue.

The Worshipful the Mayor, Cllr Carolyn Heaps, attended to assist with judging and to present the prizes to the winning teams.

“Eastbourne EBP has a strong history of supporting engineering including the launch of the Eastbourne Engineering Club in 2005 This new event is testimony to the importance of engineering to the local economy and aims to put some real engineering lessons into context for the pupils. As well as making learning fun, it will encourage teamwork and help them to develop their practical skills. We are pleased that so many schools are able to take part and grateful to everyone who has agreed to support the event”, said Steven Goss-Turner, Chairman of Eastbourne EBP.

The challenge was being set by Science and Engineering Plus and schools did not know what it was until the day! The teams were judged on how well their design works, the quality of construction, how it looks and how they worked.

The winners received the new Junior Engineers Challenge Trophy produced by Semantics Glass Engraving Studio. There were also prizes for the winners and a certificate for each participant.