Engineering victory for Ratcliffe College students

Winners - Year nine pupils from Ratcliffe College, who won an engineering prize for their eco-hotel design
PHOTO: Supplied — Winners - Year nine pupils from Ratcliffe College, who won an engineering prize for their eco-hotel design PHOTO: Supplied

A team of year nine pupils from Ratcliffe College worked with the Engineering Development Trust to design an eco-hotel as part of a ten week Go4SET project which ended with a celebration event at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

The triumphant students were James Howling, Jacob Dawe, Dominic Baggott, Ben McCahill, Robyn Warwick, Charlotte Langford and Tess Duffin. Their spectacular model and insightful report impressed all the judges, who said the project “ticked all the boxes.”

One judge, Helen Hurrish, who works in the construction industry with Galliford Try, was so impressed that she has invited the team to their site office in Crick, Northamptonshire.

The company is building a smart motorway extension to the M1, and not only will the students get a tour of the site with an engineer, to see the works in action, they have also been invited to present their ideas on solar road technology to the Galliford Try team.

Six other year nine students who also took part in the competition were highly commended for their station of the future project.

Luke Millett, Alex Pickering, Tom Neuberg, Elliot Kelly, Joseph Summer and Edward Smellie came up with the idea to use hydrogen for train power in their hydrail.

Science teacher Adam Chorley said: “Taking part in the Go4SET scheme has given the students an insight into how engineers work and the problems that they have to overcome on a daily basis.

“Both teams deserve much credit for their efforts, and indeed, winning the ‘Best Overall Project’ award is a fantastic achievement by our students. We’re very proud of them.”