Young engineers from Royal Liberty School triumph in national engineering challenge final

The top five school teams from the season league table virtually attended the IET Faraday Challenge National Final on Tuesday 13 July 2021. Other teams were Ampleforth College from York, King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls from Birmingham, Glossopdale School from Derbyshire, and The Gilberd School from Colchester.

This year’s challenge was in association with Network Rail and tasked teams to design a prototype that will assist them to sustainably manage the increasing numbers of passengers using their network and minimise their impact on the environment.

The winning team from Royal Liberty School, designed a prototype pressure pad and buzzer system to minimise overcrowding on platforms.

The final was judged by David Lakin, Head of Education at the IET, Keira Sewell, IET Faraday Challenge Leader, Patsy Brady, OLE Asset Engineer at Network Rail and Syed Shah, a Year in Industry student at Network Rail.

The winning team impressed the judges with their product design and engineering, teamwork and virtual presentation to become the IET Faraday Challenge Day National Champions 2020-21.

A total of 60 events took place across the UK to host the 2020-21 IET Faraday Challenge Days. Given the circumstances the season of Challenge Days were adapted to Teacher-led Challenge Days and allowed up to six teams from each school to compete at each event to find the best solution to an engineering-related challenge.

The events aim to encourage more young people to study and consider exciting and rewarding careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) by using creativity, innovation and problem-solving skills.

Natalie Moat, IET Faraday Education Manager, said:

“Students who took part in the Faraday Challenge Days this year have experienced working as an engineer through hands-on and practical engagement with a real-life challenge relating to the work of Network Rail. Given the circumstances, we appreciate the efforts gone to by schools and teachers to deliver this challenge and give students the opportunity to still have this unique experience. The quality of the students’ work throughout has been fantastic and it was an extremely close final – I’d like to congratulate Royal Liberty School on winning!

“There is huge demand for new engineers and technicians and we’re confident that this challenge has helped to change young people’s perceptions of engineers and inspire the next generation. It’s given students an insight into the life of a real engineer, the variety a career in engineering can offer and just how exciting and creative engineering really is.”

The Faraday Challenge Days are part of a wider Faraday education programme, made up of a whole host of teaching resources and activities to inspire and attract the engineers of tomorrow.