Budding engineers have been praised for their innovative designs, which they created as part of a prestigious national scheme.
Twelve talented Sixth Form students have spent months working with industry experts to bring their own designs to life as part of the national Engineering Education Scheme.
As part of the programme, which is run by the Engineering Development Trust, small teams of students from different schools work to design, build and present an engineering project that could be of significant use to a local engineering company.
This year, one team designed an Irradiated Fuel Cell Cutting System for nuclear waste, whilst the other group created a Prevention of Air Entrainment System for water treatment plants.
Both teams held weekly meetings with their sponsor engineers - Ansaldo Nuclear Engineering, based in Bilston, and Shifnal-based MMB Engineering - to make their designs a reality.
As part of the programme, the teams also got to visit Loughborough University for a two-day residential, where they built prototypes of their projects using university facilities.
The teams worked towards an Assessment Day, which included the showcase of a completed prototype, a 40-page engineering report and also a 15-minute presentation.
In early May, the teams displayed their models at an event where over 300 students set up stands to display their projects and also made presentations which were assessed by a panel of judges comprising of business directors and engineers.
Physics teacher, Mr A Britton, who has supported the students throughout the programme, said: “The assessors commented on the excellent planning during the early stages, the quality of the well organised reports, and the very professional presentation and confident performance at the demonstration stand.
“The practicality and quality of the prototypes were judged to be excellent. Both teams were awarded with EES and Gold Industrial Cadets certificates.
“All of the students involved should feel very proud of their achievement.”
