PUPILS from across York and North Yorkshire converged on Fulford School to take part in a UK engineering challenge.

Pupils from six schools – Selby High, Joseph Rowntree, Manor CE, Canon Lee, St Olave’s and Fulford – became real-life engineers for a day, researching, designing and building solutions to real engineering problems.

The event was part of The Institution of Engineering and Technology’s (IET) Faraday Challenge Day, which saw 45 schools across the country chosen to host events.

Teams raced against the clock to solve a genuine engineering problem, putting their engineering and technology knowledge and skills to the test.

Paul Davies, Fulford’s head of physics, said: “The day was focussed around giving pupils the full experience of being a real-life engineer.

“They developed skills in team work, accounting, electrical engineering and project management. While some designs worked better than others, they all persevered and produced a working prototype. The day was summed up by one pupil saying ‘that was amazing, when can we do it again?’.”

The Faraday Challenge Days are part of a wider Faraday education programme, made up of a whole range of teaching resources and activities to inspire and attract the engineers of tomorrow.

Gareth James, IET head of education, said: “There is huge demand for new engineers and technicians and we’re confident that this will challenge young people’s perceptions of engineers and hopefully make them consider engineering as a career choice.”

The winning group in York were from Joseph Rowntree School. They were Thomas Carr, Emma Franklin, Jamie Davies, Daniel Berry, Imogen Bell and Caitlin Gough. Each pupil were awarded a prize and a trophy for their school. The top three teams from across the UK will receive an all-expenses paid trip to the national final in Oxford to compete for a cash prize of up to £1,000 for their school.