HEATHROW. The annual Heathrow Primary School Challenge is underway in the Boroughs surrounding the airport; Ealing, Hounslow, Hillingdon, Slough and Spelthorne.
2012-10-25 — /travelprnews.com/ — The challenge, funded and run by Heathrow in partnership with the National Schools Partnership, is aimed at students aged 10/11 and is looking to bring out the creativity in the students while also encouraging them to explore construction and engineering programmes at Heathrow.
The day itself will see students take part in a construction challenge of building a ‘terminal’. They will receive an introductory speech and instructions by an engineer and then asked, with the help of Heathrow volunteers and teachers, to build a ‘terminal’ large enough to fit six students in it.
The challenge is designed to bring out the creativity in the students but also encourage them to explore construction and engineering programmes at the airport.
Jeremy King, Chartered Civil Engineer and school activity provider, says:
‘Being an Engineer it is fantastic to see the children take part in the challenge. It is great to see the creative designs they come up with and the level of enthusiasm for the task. A practical challenge like this brings to life maths, science and technology and how they are used in the real world to solve practical problems, so hopefully it will encourage some of the students to go down the engineering route later in life. During the activity they also practice job and life skills that they will need in the future like teamwork, communication, problem solving, cooperation and time management.’
Sundeep Sangha, Economic Development Manager, Heathrow:
‘We started running the challenge six years ago and it has grown in popularity ever since with more schools signing up year-on-year. Staff at the airport are encouraged to volunteer at the schools for the challenge and we have had fantastic feedback from both teachers and students who have taken part in previous years’.
This is the sixth year the challenge is held and last year 2,600 students took part from 46 schools in the Heathrow area.
Notes to editors
Further information about the challenge:
- The Heathrow Primary School Challenge is in its sixth year and now runs in 46 schools in the boroughs of Ealing, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Slough and Spelthorne for 10 and 11 year old students
- It aims to bring out creativity in students whilst encouraging them to explore construction and engineering programmes at the airport, and understand the sorts of things they need to learn in order to get there
- This is particularly important for two reasons:
- Many children in the boroughs surrounding the airport will expect to work at the airport in the future but may not be aware of the full range of careers available – and the studying they will need to do to achieve those jobs. Almost half (45%) of the 76,500 people working at the airport live nearby. Therefore it is important to expose children to some of the jobs they may not know exist at the airport
- The Royal Academy for Engineering has recently stated that engineering graduates are in short supply – this programme helps to make children aware of this career from an early age
- Pupils spend a morning or an afternoon being taught curriculum based content about 3-D shapes and the basic rules and laws of engineering. Then they are invited to put this knowledge to the test by working in teams to create their own 3-D Terminal – which 6 of them can sit inside without it collapsing. They construct the Terminals out of newspaper sticks that they make themselves
- The Challenge has been running for 6 years and last year, 2,600 children took part
- A member of staff from Heathrow airport accompanies Jeremy King – the engineer that runs the activities – at each event and explains to the children what their job is at the airport, to further expand their knowledge of different types of jobs at the airport
- The Challenge is run in partnership with the National Schools Partnership
Contact information
Name Heathrow Airport media centre
Telephone +44 (0)20 8745 7224
Email heathrowmediacentre@baa.com
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HEATHROW GETS KIDS EXCITED ABOUT ENGINEERING