For the past six weeks, pupils from local schools have attended a Saturday Club at Gower College Swansea which aims to develop their skills and enthusiasm for engineering.
The Saturday Club allows pupils to access the expertise of the teaching staff, the industry-specific equipment and on-site facilities of the Tycoch campus.
“The commitment and quality of work achieved by the students have been exceptional," says Lucy Turtle, who is part of the college's Reaching Wider team. "We were particularly pleased with the participation of so many female pupils and are now planning extra workshops called “GirlsStepUp2Stem” which will be offered to Year 9/10 pupils so they can experience the digital technology and electronics sectors of engineering.”
“A competition was organised with girls vs. boys to complete activities - and it did become extremely competitive!" adds curriculum leader Steve Williams. "Everyone who took part learned a variety of new skills including how to build a robotic white line follower vehicle as well as basic motor vehicle maintenance."
The Saturday Club students will be acknowledged at a special event on 20 June where they will be presented with certificates and will have an opportunity to gain further information on careers in engineering.
The Reaching Wider Team would like to thank Steve Williams, Brian Lewis, Cameron Jones, Lee Hayward, John Hier, Andrew Hubball, Ian Adams, Alison Booth, Maria Francis, Keiron Palmer, Mathew Oatway, Catherine Rogers and Jason Lewis for their involvement in the Saturday Club.