A project which celebrates the ingenuity and creativity of children in engineering subjects and the desire of teachers to identify engineers in the making was held recently at Stantonbury Leisure Centre, Buckinghamshire.
Supported by Rockwell Automation, Routeco, GAMBICA, Stratus Technologies, Lenze, Cadence Innovation Marketing and Milton Keynes Council, the Primary Engineer Celebration Event highlighted the annual culmination of teacher training which started in 2018. The Primary Engineer programme is designed to help teachers to develop the practical application of maths and science through a design technology project and the celebration event showcased children’s creations after months of planning and design.
The Milton Keynes Celebration event was attended by The Mayor of Milton Keynes, Councillor Sam Crookes, Labour Councillor, Zoe Nolan, and Keith McLean on behalf of Conservative MP for Milton Keynes South, Iain Stewart MP.
Since inception, the programme, one of several from engineering education pioneers, Primary Engineer, has engaged over 60,000 pupils and over 4,000 teachers across the Country to develop skills and inspire interest in engineering and associated STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects. In combination with other projects, such as the popular “If You Were an Engineer, What Would You Do?” competition, the not-for-profit organisation engages with numerous industrial enterprises and over 60,000 school children and 3,000 teachers nationally, to encourage schools to embed engineering into their curriculum by bringing engineering to life and identifying engineers in the making from a young age.
Chris Rochester, UK Director, Primary Engineer said: “The support offered by the funders allowed us to bring Primary Engineer programmes to schools across Buckinghamshire, culminating in this fantastic celebration event. It is exciting and encouraging to see so many teachers and their pupils embrace engineering skills. The pupils have applied STEM knowledge in a practical way and have shown a flair for engineering and with our continued partnerships we look forward to inspiring a whole new generation of engineers”.
Phil Hadfield, UK Country Director at Rockwell Automation said: “What a brilliant day – all of the Rockwell Automation engineers involved in the project have been inspired I am so proud that our company is directly engaged with schools and young children on engineering subjects locally. We rely on a steady stream of highly trained engineers and no-one can argue that nurturing the inquisitive and creative instincts of children plays an important role in filling the career opportunities that companies like ours, and our friends at Routeco, GAMBICA, Lenze, Stratus and Cadence, support”.
Helping connect children and teachers to the real-life modern engineers is a vital step to helping young people understand how rewarding engineering careers are and how important engineering is to the world in which we all live, while breaking down many outdated stereotypes about a career in industry.
Primary Engineer is a not for profit organisation founded in 2005 and is directly responsible for engaging over 60,000 children, 3000 teachers and 829 engineers with their range of programmes that enable STEM by stealth learning for children.
