The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has been working for many years to encourage more young people to engage in the STEM agenda and to consider engineering as a possible career path.

The IET Faraday ® Challenge Days are cross-curricular activity days covering Science, Design and Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). They are held at schools, organisations and universities around the UK and have proved to be enormously popular with teachers and students alike. The IET Faraday ® Challenge Days give students the opportunity to research, design and make solutions to real-life engineering problems. The event is set up and run by a team of STEM professionals and is an unbeatable opportunity for our students.

The winners of each IET Faraday ® Challenge Day will win a trophy for their school and gain a place on the national league table. The top teams from across the UK will get to go through to the National Final at the end of the season to compete for a cash prize of up to £1,000 for their school to spend on STEM activities.

Blackpool Aspire Academy hosted a IET Faraday Challenge day on Tuesday, 14th November, inviting teams from Hodgson, Armfield and Montgomery academies.

The day was fantastic with our twelve Year 8 students enjoying the challenge of the brief and using skills and initiative to create a prototype, using sensors, motors and other electronic equipment, they were proud of. Congratulations to the Hodgson academy team for winning this regional heat and our best wishes go out to them for the next stage of the competition.

Many thanks to the teams from Armfield and Montgomery academies for joining in and presenting some great ideas too!