Member Article

Fallibroome Academy wins Siemens Roller Coaster Challenge 2015

Finalists from nine schools across Cheshire East attended the grand final of the Siemens Roller Coaster Challenge on Wednesday evening. The competition challenged pupils from years 7 to 9 to work with a Siemens mentor to design and build their very own working roller-coaster prototype, using parts supplied by the manufacturer.

Now in its second year, the competition attracted a record number of entrants, with 18 teams put forward for the grand final. Just under 200 pupils, teachers, parents and Siemens staff attended Congleton Town Hall on Wednesday the 25th February to view the pupils’ creations and see the winners announced.

The overall winner was Fallibroome Academy for its space-themed roller-coaster - Void, which was awarded a cheque for £300. Host of the event, Andrew Peters, MD of Siemens Congleton, comments: “The Roller Coaster Challenge is a fantastic initiative with the target of altering perceptions of engineering as a career.”

“The standard of all entries was very high and the level of creativity shown by the pupils involved is amazing. With the aim of widening the appeal of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects to children in the years leading up to their GCSE option choices. A career in engineering can be parallel with a career in medicine or education. We believe therefore it is vital that the next generation cease to view engineering as a dirty or low skilled job and understand the technical and creative capacity of such a career.“

Winners in each individual category, who were awarded a £10 voucher, were as follows:

• Thrill-factor: Eaton Bank - G-Force.
• Creativity: Kings Girls – Narnia.
• Visual presentation: Macclesfield Academy – A Blast from the Past.

Schools that made it to the grand final are Eaton Bank Academy, All Hallows, Macclesfield Academy. Fallibroome Academy, Beech Hall, Congleton High School, Kings Girls, Kings Boys, Tytherington High.

Judges of the competition were Allanah Moore of Ten Alps Communication, Alan Jones of Conductix-Wampfler and Tim McCloud of TMC Strategic Communications. Prizes were then awarded by Congleton Town Mayor Dennis Murphy, and HM Lord-Lieutenant of Cheshire David Briggs MBE and Fiona Bruce MP.

Run by Siemens Digital Factory Congleton, in partnership with marketing agency TMC Strategic Communications, the competition was run by Siemens Engineering apprentices Ashleigh Sumner, Conner Bottomley and Oliver Nicholls, with the school teams taking part in the competition allotted an engineering apprentice mentor from Siemens (Ryan Furnival, Jake Wilshaw and Danielle Chaddock) to help guide them through the task.

The challenge forms part of the Siemens apprentice training program, and the team are working towards rolling the project out across the UK over the next 18 months.

Siemens plc

Siemens was established in the United Kingdom 170 years ago and now employs around 13,520 people in the UK. Last year’s revenues were £3.2 billion*. As a leading global engineering and technology services company, Siemens provides innovative solutions to help tackle the world’s major challenges, across the key sectors of energy, industry, infrastructure & cities and healthcare. Siemens has offices and factories throughout the UK, with its headquarters in Frimley, Surrey. The company’s global headquarters is in Munich, Germany. For more information, visit www.siemens.co.uk

* Data includes intercompany revenue. Data may not be comparable with revenue reported in annual or interim reports.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Vicky Pulman .