Full steam ahead

Year 8 students at Claremont High School get on board with an exciting engineering experience 

On 26th November 2024, 124 Year 8 students took part in an all-day STEM workshop led by the Smallpiece Trust, an educational charity that inspires young people to pursue careers in science and engineering. 

The focus of the workshop was HS2, Europe’s largest construction project. Students got to: brainstorm, design and build their own futuristic train stations; build and test tunnel structures; experience different roles in engineering; and have a lot of fun! 

‘This workshop was amazing!’ said Ruth Cristian in 8.2. ‘I liked it most when we created the train station.’  

All the students working together on ‘Table 22’ enjoyed themselves: ‘We liked all the activities because they involved teamwork. We all listened to each other and made new friends. It was super fun!’ 

Ms Patel, who organised the day’s activity, was equally pleased with the outcome: ‘This was a really good opportunity for pupils to experience some of the skills involved in an engineering project, from being creative and thinking outside the box, to problem solving and, most importantly, learning to work with a team of people they may never have met before. The pupils did the school proud. We were impressed by how every one of them engaged fully and worked together so well, appreciating each other’s skills and producing excellent results. Well done to all who took part!’