Hot ideas steal the show at Schools Marine Challenge Race Day 2009
Schools raced to the finish at the 4th annual Schools Marine Challenge South East Race Day 2009, on Tuesday 23rd June 2009 at JB Waterski, Thorpe Road, Chertsey in Surrey.
Designed to help young people develop a passion for and understanding of the marine industry, Schools Marine Challenge was organised by the British Marine Federation with support from Marine South East. The competition brings marine engineering skills to life and clearly demonstrates the application of theory in a fun and competitive environment for young people aged 11-19.
This year students entered over 30 craft into the competition and had three categories to choose from - Solar, Electric and Methanol.
Overall winners, The Leigh Technology Academy (Dartford), have won a tour of the hydrodynamic testing facilities at QinetiQ near Gosport. Andy King at QinetiQ said, "QinetiQ are extremely pleased to be supporting the South East Schools Marine Challenge Race Day because it is through events such as this that pupils will gain an appreciation of the marine industry.
"It is also a great opportunity to gain an understanding of the exciting prospects that come with working in Marine Engineering and Naval Architecture. As one of the Naval Architects at our Maritime Platforms site in Gosport, I used to build model boats when I was at school and now I work in a team that looks at many new ship designs. It is our hope that the young designers of the 2009 School Marine Challenge enjoy the competition so much that they end up doing the same thing".
Oasis Lordshill school in Southampton defeated the opposition to scoop up the prize for the Solar category, and won a visit to Discovery Yachts - world-class builders of blue water cruising yachts based in Marchwood, Southampton.
Leigh Academy also won both the Electric and Methanol categories. Leigh Academy run the scheme as a large part of the engineering curriculum, alongside 'Formula Schools' a sister scheme. Leigh Academy have found that through Schools Marine Challenge their work with the marine industry has snowballed and is delivered by a dedicated team ensuring many opportunities are taken up.
Overall the standard of entries was exceptional demonstrating that creativity and innovation begin in the classroom. Midhurst School in West Sussex won the award for teamwork and innovation. Judges also looked at how schools had performed overall in all three boat categories and at how they worked to get to the final race day.
Winners List
Overall Winners:
1st Leigh Academy
2nd Oasis Lordshill
3rd St Andrews
Winner in Solar category - Oasis Lordshill
Winner in Electric category - Leigh Academy
Winner in Petrol category - Leigh Academy
Winners in the design of the hull and superstructure of the boats
Solar - Oasis Lordshill
Electric - St Andrews
Petrol - St Andrews
Winners in the design of the engine and motor capacity
Solar - Oasis Lordshill
Electric - Midhurst
Petrol - Seaford
School awarded Teamwork prize
1st - Midhurst
2nd - Leigh Academy
3rd - The Forest and Millais
For further information on Schools Marine Challenge please visit http://www.engineeringyourfuture.com or telephone 01869 819582.
What the schools said:-
Leigh Academy - Kent
Steve Leahey and Steve Watts were proud of the achievement of pupils at the school: "we have designed our curriculum around Schools Marine Challenge and the other events we take part in. Students are encouraged to be innovative in their designs and have to work hard to get their boats into these competitions.
"We have had a lot of support from local businesses, including Bluewater, who have agreed to give us one of their shop windows for a few weeks to display out boats and hopefully inspire other youngsters to learn more about engineering."
The Forest and Millais
The Forest School and Millais School in Midhurst joined forces this year to put together winning designs for the Challenge. Dominic Neal a year 9 pupil at Forest has learnt a lot from taking part "we have gained so much from taking part this year. This is our second year in the competition and we learnt a lot from the boats we designed a year ago. By joining with a local company, William Harmsworth Associates, we have been able to tap into specialist knowledge.
"The company brought so much expertise that we have used making our boats. It's been great to make something practical and bring our engineering skills to life."
Oasis Lordshill
Norton James, design and technology teacher at Oasis has been impressed with what pupils have achieved. "Our year 9 and 11 pupils have been designing and building the boats as part of our weekly school Boat Club. We have taken part every year since the challenge started four years ago. Every year we have worked from scratch to build better boats, learning new skills year on year."
Year 11 pupil Nathan Coombes has recently completed an NVQ Level 1 in marine engineering. His experience doing the course and taking part in the Schools Marine Challenge has inspired him to investigate a future career in marine electronics.
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