The boffins of the future

Youngsters at Millfield Science College are being primed to be the scientists and engineers of tomorrow – with the help of £10,000 of state-of-the-art equipment.
By Katie Upton
Published 28th Nov 2013, 13:00 BST
Pupil s Ellie Fyal and Taylor Cash with Francis Egan from Cuadrilla, Mike Phelan from Blackpool and The Fylde college and Millfield headteacher Sean Bullen.Pupil s Ellie Fyal and Taylor Cash with Francis Egan from Cuadrilla, Mike Phelan from Blackpool and The Fylde college and Millfield headteacher Sean Bullen.
Pupil s Ellie Fyal and Taylor Cash with Francis Egan from Cuadrilla, Mike Phelan from Blackpool and The Fylde college and Millfield headteacher Sean Bullen.

Now other youngsters on the Fylde coast are set to benefit from a science and engineering prize in the 2014 Young Engineers STEM Skill Challenge.

Pupils in ‘Team Millfield’, on Belvedere Road, in Thornton, showed off the tools they have bought with the £10,000 they were awarded for winning the 2013 Challenge, seeing off competition from teams from schools across the Fylde coast.

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The challenge, run by The Gazette and Cuadrilla Resources and supported by Blackpool and The Fylde College, encouraged pupils to apply their knowledge of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects to create a balloon buggy.

Cuadrilla Resources CEO Francis Egan visited the school yesterday to see how the winnings were spent and to launch the 2014 Young Engineers STEM Skills Challenge.

The second annual challenge invites teams to take on a task of problem solving while using science and mathematics in a bid to win the £12,000 prize fund.

Head of science Justine Azzopardi said: “We find this equipment really engages and excites students. With the excitement then comes the interest. Without the funding there’s no way we’d have been able to get these things.”

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Mr Egan said: “It’s really exciting to see a group of children so inspired. I just hoped the money would make a difference and it has.”

The school has so far spent £2,000 on a glass fusion printer for technology classes, bought a weather station and underwater camera, spent £500 on maths and motion software and is expecting delivery of a £1,000 3D printer.

A further £2,000 has been spent for the STEM Club to build its own motorised track based on an electric bike.

Pupil Connor Rimmel, 12, said: “The equipment is really good.

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“It’s better having them in class, now we can actually see it or experience it.

“It makes it a lot easier to learn.”

To register for the 2014 Challenge, contact: (01253) 361843 or [email protected]

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Related topics:YoungstersFylde