Students are egged on to future engineering career

Students from Newman entered the engineering young talent competition and won. Pictured, from left are Jeff Newman, Hargreaves Engineering Duckworth Ltd, Adam Bullows, Joseph Melia, Jude Challinor, Ethan Bradley and James Gregan

NEWMAN pupils triumphed in a series of competitions aimed at promoting careers in engineering.

The Chadderton secondary was among schools in Greater Manchester which went head to head in the annual challenges as part of the Engineering Youth Talent Programme run by Bury ventilation installation company Hargreaves.

Teams of pupils were given four weeks to complete tasks before giving a Dragons' Den-style presentation.

The Year 10 competition involved pupils landing an egg in a target from a five-metre drop without breaking it, using a limited amount of paper, string, elastic bands, sticky tape, straws and string.

Newman College pupils Adam Bullows, Jude Challino, Ethan Bradley and James Cregan came out tops while teams at the school won and were runners-up in the Year 7 competition to give a presentation about the importance of health and safety.

Pupils were also commended for their achievements in the Year 8 competition which has a quality control theme.

The college works with Hargreaves to promote engineering careers and and apprenticeships, and Joseph Melia is its second pupil to gain an apprenticeship with the company.

Head teacher Mike McGhee said: "There has been a big drive towards promoting apprenticeships but it doesn't appear to have gained the momentum that the Government hoped for.

"We have universities falling over to come in and talk to students but we do not have as many apprenticeship providers who want to promote their careers to the students."