Schools' Outreach

We are keen to work with schools to help raise awareness of engineering and demonstrate the opportunities that studying for a degree in engineering can provide. We invite pupils and teachers to try some hands-on engineering, to hear about our research, and to find out about life at university.

Engineering in your Schools

During the Autumn Term 2017, the Schools’ Liaison Officer has delivered School of Engineering free outreach education programme to over 400 KS2 pupils at 10 schools in Lancashire and Cumbria.

Teachers have been very positive about the experience:

  • “Interesting and challenging experiments which the children enjoyed.”Ridge Community Primary
  • “It has been great to see the children taking the lesson on board, thinking for themselves and trying ideas rather than being teacher led.”Trumacar Primary

The programme consists of a choice of 5 full day engineering challenge workshops, including two new themes, Stored Energy and Mechanical Engineering. Each workshop provides the Year 5 and 6 pupils with the opportunity to apply their STEM knowledge to real-world engineering challenges.

A mindmap of different words relating to outreach
"What is Engineering?" These are some of the words used by KS2 pupils to explain their answer after participating in an engineering challenge.

Free STEM Workshops for Y5 and Y6

Introduce your pupils to the exciting world of engineering. Bring science, technology, engineering and mathematics to life with real-world challenges. Provide pupils with opportunities to enrich their STEM learning. Practice STEM skills and collaborative working. Choose from the following themes:

Each free workshop is

  • delivered at your school, by a DBS checked, qualified and experienced teacher
  • is a full day (adaptable)
  • includes activities to enable pupils to reflect on the process and skills employed in their engineering challenge

All workshops are

  • Linked to the national curriculum and cross-curricular
  • Provide opportunities to practice STEM skills including
  • creative and critical thinking, evaluating and reflecting, collaborating and communicating
  • Risk assessed
  • Funded by the Sir John Fisher Foundation

IET Faraday Challenge Day

The School of Engineering was one of only 12 universities selected to host this year's Institute of Engineering and Technology’s Faraday Challenge Day.

Teams of Year 8 students from four Lancashire schools; Lancaster Girls Grammar, Hodgson Academy, Fulwood Academy and Our Lady’s Catholic College raced against the clock to solve real-life engineering problems. The crew of the incredible Land Rover BAR catamaran asked the teams to create innovative engineering related solutions to help them achieve winning performances in the America’s Cup race.

Each team used their small budget to design, build and test their prototype producing some innovative and unique solutions. The winning team from Lancaster Girls’ Grammar were awarded a trophy and individual prizes and could be one of the top 5 teams out of 147 schools from across the UK to compete in the national final.

Students using a vice on an outreach event

Contact

Gemma Miller

Gemma Miller

Recruitment and Conversion Officer (Events)

+44 (0)1524 521870 B204, B - Floor, Management School