Today students from The Redhill Academy took part in an IET Faraday Challenge Day (FCD) where students become real-life engineers for a day!

The Redhill teams had a fantastic day building their prototypes, displaying some outstanding teamwork and solving some challenging problems along the way!

Phil, the IET challenge leader, said "The students here have been a joy. They have shown fantastic teamwork and top-notch problem-solving skills and made my day here a very enjoyable one. I can't say that about every school I visit, so you should all be immensely proud of yourselves!"

This year we have four Redhill Academy Trust schools taking part including Tupton Hall, Hall Park Academy, South Nottinghamshire Academy & The Redhill Academy. As part of the challenge, students will research, design, and build solutions to real engineering problems, competing to find the best solution to an engineering-related challenge.

This year’s challenge is in association with UKRI’s Future Flight Challenge and will be based on future flight technology, but the brief for these young engineers is hidden in secrecy to avoid unfair preparation and research. Teams must race against the clock to solve a real-life engineering problem, putting their engineering and technology knowledge and skills to the test.

Natalie Moat, IET Faraday Education Manager, said: “Students who take part in the Faraday Challenge Days this year will experience working as an engineer through hands-on and practical engagement with real-life challenges relating to UKRI’s Future Flight Challenge.

“There is a huge demand for new engineers and technicians, and we are confident that this will challenge young people’s perceptions of engineering and inspire the next generation by giving them an insight into the life of a real engineer and showing them just how exciting and creative engineering really is.”

The aim is to encourage more young people to study and consider exciting and rewarding careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) by using creativity, innovation, and problem-solving skills.

Each team member in the winning group will be awarded a prize and a trophy for their school. The top five teams from across the UK will receive an all-expenses paid trip to the national final in June 2023 to compete for a cash prize of up to £1,000 for their school.

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

For more information on the IET and its initiatives to promote STEM subjects and careers in the classroom, visit the IET’s dedicated Education website.