STEM Faraday Challenge

The IET Faraday Challenge Days are one day STEM activities delivered free of charge by the IET. 210 events are taking place during this season. IET Faraday Challenge Days give students the opportunity to research, design and make prototype solutions to genuinely tough engineering problems. FCDs enable young students to experience working as an engineer for a day. At each event teams compete to win a prize for themselves and a trophy for their school. The winners of each event win prizes for themselves and a trophy for their school. The top teams from across the UK get an all-expenses paid trip to the National Final to compete for a cash prize of up to £1,000 for their school. Our school is passionate about giving our students new and exciting opportunities to engage in STEM subjects. A strong UK economy relies on great engineering output, and it is crucial to get the engineers of the future interested at an early age. The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) runs the Faraday Challenge Days as part of the IET’s commitment to show young people the benefits of careers within Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

On 5 February. Bourne Academy hosted one of the challenges and competed against our sister school Spalding Academy and also Hampton College. The challenge this year was to make survival prototype kits for the company Airbus.

12 students from each school took part in engineering workshops, a total of 36 students. They competed against each other to win. Students worked in teams with assigned roles such as Manager, Accountant, Marketing, etc in order to complete the challenge. Students were given Faraday money to spend in the shop which was run by some of our Sixth Form students. Students were given points for spending wisely and accessing the Bargains box. At the end students had to present their prototypes to the judges and answer questions.

The winning team came from Hampton College, it was a very close with one of teams from Bourne Academy and a very tough decision for the judges! The host was impressed with the organisation of the event and the students’ ideas, she commented ‘this is the best organised event I have seen in the last ten years!’, ‘These are some of the best ideas I have seen so far from students’. She kindly asked Miss Moorfoot to sign up again to host the event next year!

Miss Moorfoot said “All students represented their schools very well and had an absolute fantastic day!”