Member Article

Sunderland School Wins Awards

AN innovative design for an in-car vacuum cleaner has led to a Sunderland school winning a prestigious award.

More than 1000 young people from across the city took part in Work Discovery Week – five days of activities which brought together students from 21 schools and scores of businesses from across the region.

And the event culminated in a Dragons’ Den style challenge, where pupils were asked to create a new product, piece of equipment or service for the business of their choice and present their work to a panel of judges.

Ideas put forward across two sessions included the creation of eco-friendly holiday homes made of recycled glass in Sunderland, an app that helped victims of crime and a piece of software to improve road safety.

But it was the work of Washington school St Robert of Newminster STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Maths) Club which wowed the judges, with their sophisticated and detailed plan for an in-car vacuum cleaner that could be fitted in the glove compartment and worked via the air conditioning system.

The four-strong team were declared the overall winner of the challenge, with Biddick Academy named as runners-up.

The final day, which was sponsored by global automotive company, Calsonic Kansei, brought together business experts from Work Discovery Week sponsors Gentoo, University of Sunderland, Sunderland College, Accenture, SAFC, Liebherr, Northern Print Solutions and Ashmore Consultants.

John Barnett, Operations Director of Calsonic Kansei who gave the opening address on the final day at the Stadium of Light said he was “overwhelmed” by the quality of the presentations.

“These young people have done some amazing work, so of which adults twice their age would have struggled to come up with,” he said.

Runners-up Biddick Academy were also praised, with their team devising a biometric thumb scanner business, where all vital information could be stored so reducing the need for banking, loyalty and medical cards.

This marked the third Work Discovery Week, set up to build relationships with young people in Sunderland and business across the North East.

And organisers have announced that it will take place again next year, running from June 27 to July 1 2016.

The event was created to help improve the employability of youngsters in the city and is now part of the wider Work Discovery Sunderland programme, which includes specialist sector days and guest speaker days which are held throughout the year.

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