Team members at Siemens Mobility’s Goole Rail Village have sparked interest among local schoolchildren in exciting careers in engineering.
Together with national charity Primary Engineer, Siemens Mobility has delivered an engaging programme in primary schools in Goole and the surrounding area aimed at inspiring the next generation of train designers and engineers.
This year, Siemens Mobility worked with 13 schools to teach children about opportunities in engineering, while also building teachers’ knowledge of the field. The programme saw STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) Ambassadors from Siemens Mobility deliver workshops, engaging with around 400 children and around 30 teachers across the school year – culminating in the largest celebration event for the initiative to date.
Working together over five years, Siemens Mobility and Primary Engineer have engaged with almost 30 schools, more than 2,000 children, aged between 5-11, and 80 teachers.
Natalie Thornton, Operations Support Manager at Siemens Mobility’s Goole Rail Village, said: “Supporting programmes like Primary Engineer is an important part of Siemens Mobility’s mission to transform rail travel and transport in the UK – giving children, who have usually had no exposure to engineering, the opportunity to get hands on, and learn from professionals who have years of experience.
“This year has been particularly exciting as we’ve seen the programme grow significantly. We now have 21 fully-trained STEM Ambassadors, with a strong representation of female engineers, which is fantastic for inspiring girls to consider engineering careers.
“It’s especially meaningful to see some of our team members giving back to the community by working with children and teachers at schools they used to attend. It shows the full circle opportunity that engineering can provide and, after five years of this programme, I’m hoping to start seeing some of these children coming through as apprentices in the future. That would be the ultimate success story.”
The programme involved engaging schoolchildren in rail-themed engineering projects and concepts, including the design, testing and evaluation of miniature trains.
Nick Donnelly, a STEM Consultant working on behalf of Primary Engineer, said: “Primary Engineer has a vision for every child from early years through to secondary education to have what we call the ‘engineering bug’ – we want to inspire and motivate them to become engineers.
“It’s really important that businesses like Siemens get involved in this. They fund the training and resources, which allow us to connect with schools in the locality and train teachers to deliver activities specifically focused on upskilling them in their STEM and Design Technology (DT) skills.
“There are many misconceptions and stereotypes about engineering – people typically think of an engineer as a man with a hard hat and tools. But engineering is much more than that. Through programmes like this, we broaden children’s understanding so they can see something that fits for them and hopefully encourage them to pursue engineering.”
Siemens Mobility has committed up to £240 million in investment to make the Goole Rail Village an industry-leading centre of excellence, bringing up to 1,000 jobs to East Yorkshire as well as around 1,700 supply chain opportunities.
New Piccadilly line trains for Transport for London, which will transform travel on the London Underground, are being assembled at Goole. Siemens Mobility also plans to build all future main line trains for the UK at the East Yorkshire site, including new battery bi-mode trains that it has calculated could save Britain’s railways £3.5 billion and 12 million tonnes of CO2 over 35 years.
Siemens Mobility is committed to making a deep and lasting difference to the local community in Goole, including through programmes such as Primary Engineer.
Siemens Mobility Mechanical Fitter and STEM Ambassador Darren Patterson said: “Having grown up in Goole I wanted to get involved with the programme to give something back to the town and hopefully impart some of my knowledge to the next generation.
“It’s particularly special because I was assigned to work with Parkside Primary School, which is the school both myself and my daughter attended. My daughter is now in her final year of university so it feels like a full circle moment, to go back and help the next generation of children in Goole.”
Parkside Primary School in Goole took part again this year, having been involved with the programme since it launched.
Parkside Primary School Design Technology Teacher Emily Wilson said: “The programme has been really important in helping to upskill staff and give them more confidence when teaching Design Technology (DT). This has resulted in the DT lessons becoming more purposeful and engaging, and the skills the children are learning are more advanced.
“Having the opportunity to learn new skills, design and build a miniature train and see it working through the Primary Engineer programme has enthused the children in this subject area.”
To find out more about Siemens Mobility’s work in Goole, go to www.siemens.co.uk/goole
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