Merseyside's school pupils felt the nuclear industry's 'buzz' at the recent Make It with Sellafield Ltd, Capenhurst Enterprising Challenge.
18/05/2011 The Manufacturing Institute
Teams of 13 and 14 year old boys and girls from eleven secondary schools across Merseyside travelled to the Holiday Inn in Ellesmere Port recently to take part in a specially designed enterprise event which seeks to attract more young people to careers in the nuclear and manufacturing sector and to promote the work done at the Capenhurst site of Sellafield Ltd.On the day teams were tasked with forming their own mini-manufacturing companies with each pupil adopting a specific job role from Managing Director to Finance Manager, Design Engineer, Quality Controller and Sales and Marketing Director. Pupils then worked their way through a specific set of tasks to design and build a Nuclear Energy Waste Transport System (NEWTS) as well as a Safety Indicator System (SIS) to keep the vehicles cargo safe.
At the end of the day pupils pitched their ideas to a panel of 'Dragons' in a Dragon's Den style presentation made up of senior managers from the Capenhurst site of Sellafield Ltd. With such stiff competition the Dragons had their work cut out for them but awarded the winners' trophy to University Academy, Birkenhead for their vehicle 'The Transporter'.
The winning team had put together a multi-functional vehicle which could be adapted for short and long distance journeys. They also delivered a confident pitch and were praised by the judges for their team working skills and understanding of the importance of public safety when dealing with nuclear materials.
Second place went to Prenton High School for Girls whose vehicle 'The Bullet' was praised for its use of environmental technologies and their idea of using a rail track link to minimise risks and speed up transportation times.
Other winners on the day included Phoebe Riley from Childwall Sports College for Best Designer, Louise Walker from Bebington High Sports College for Most Focused and Kirsty Bishop from University Academy, Birkenhead for Most Enthusiastic.
The staff from Sellafield Ltd, Capenhurst supported the Make It Enterprising Challenge for the second year running to provide support to local education and to promote pride at the Capenhurst site as a large employer in the local area. Nick Welch, Head of Capenhurst Site said:
"We're delighted to be involved once again with the Make It campaign. It's great to see so much enthusiasm from all the young people here and to be able to show them that the manufacturing and nuclear industries provide challenging and rewarding opportunities."
Stephen Melia, Events Coordinator for the Make It campaign added: "Make It exists to help attract the brightest and best young people to the manufacturing industry. If we ask young people what they want from their future careers they will often say: good career prospects, the opportunity to travel and a varied, interesting and well paid job. These characteristics are central to the advanced manufacturing sector and it's great to work with Sellafield Ltd in Capenhurst to illustrate these points in such a fun and interesting way"
University Academy, Birkenhead will now move forward to this years Regional Final on 23 June 2011 where they will compete to be crowned to North West Champions.
Participating Schools
Archbishop Blanch -Liverpool
Bebington High Sports College-Wirral
Bluecoat High School-Liverpool
Braighton High School-Liverpool
Broadgreen Internationl School-Liverpool
The Childwall High School-Liverpool
Holly Lodge Girls School-Liverpool
Prenton High School-Birkenhead
The Whitby High School-Ellesmere Port
University Academy-Birkenhead
University of Chester Church of England Academy-Ellesmere Port
For further information, please visit: www.manufacturinginstitute.co.uk
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