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Redcar school takes Olympic title

The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) North East has been helping youngsters from Tees Valley schools to get to grips with an Olympic challenge.

Schools from across the area have been competing in the Sporting Wonder Challenge to gain an insight into the construction and engineering industries.

Teams made up of pupils from years nine and ten were challenged to prepare bids for the development of a leisure site to host one or more Olympic events.

Pupils from Rye Hills School, in Redcar, saw their project judged as the ‘Tees Valley Sporting Wonder’. Their project was a velodrome in the shape of a cycling helmet.

The other schools involved in the final were Laurence Jackson School, Guisborough; Thornaby Community School, Thornaby; and High Tunstall College of Science, Hartlepool.

As part of the brief, the teams worked with mentors from industry and their projects had to be functional, environmentally friendly and sympathetic to their surroundings, whilst also providing added value to the community.

In three tasks the teams set up a mini construction company, researched careers in the industry and managed budgets, chose a site taking into account its history and impact on surroundings, conducted market research produced scaled drawings and models, and prepared a presentation about their company and proposal.

Stephen Larkin, regional director of ICE North East, said: “The Sporting Wonder Challenge is a great way for schools to bring careers to life and inspire teamwork. Using a ‘real-life’ situation, such as the Olympics, gives the young people taking part a real insight into how civil engineering shapes changes the world around us and we were very impressed with the work produced.

“It was a great day and I was struck by the fact that the teams either produced cycling or swimming related projects, perhaps an indication of the impact the success of Team GB had at the Beijing Olympics!”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .