Young engineers get a taste for work

PUPILS taking part in the engineering initiative are (from the left) James Fairbrother, Emma Peters, Christine Crawford and Joe McCue, a with Peter Greenhalgh (second right), from DCT, David Murphy, co-ordinating teacher

Pupils from Blue Coat School at are enjoying a taste of the real-life work of an engineer as part of an initiative with DCT Civil Engineering.

Five Year 9 pupils from the Egerton Street school are working with mentor Peter Greenhalgh, site agent from the Oldham-based company.

They are tackling a 10-week Go4SET project, a national scheme to encourage young people into choosing a career in science, engineering or technology.

The 14-year-olds are working on how to make better use of water at their school, and have studied how to collect and recycle rainwater.

They also have to build a model that can demonstrate how this would work, and evaluate the outcome of their project.

DCT organises weekly meetings with their mentor for help, advice and feedback on their progress, and the company has loaned specialist computer equipment to help the team write reports and prepare their presentation.

Their research will be presented during a celebration and assessment day at Liverpool University, when the projects are assessed by a panel of representatives from industry and education.

Mr Greenhalgh said: “We’re really pleased to be taking part in this worthwhile scheme.

“It presents some unique challenges to us as a company as well as the students taking part.

“We believe that the initiative will prove to be an effective way of demonstrating to young people how they can become involved in the engineering technology that will shape their future”