Proving it’s never too early to start thinking about career opportunities, Hemington Primary School has hosted its first ever STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) week.

Designed to enthuse students, the week was filled with hands-on activities and presentations from local engineering companies. The theme for the week was ‘water’, looking at how it is used for transportation, hydration, hand washing and as a home for nature.

The week of activities was kicked off by a group of young Naval Architects and Naval Engineers from BMT Group. After an assembly with the entire school on the different types of boats and ships there are, the students split into classes for a range of interactive sessions where they had a chance to be creative. This included making foam sail boats, providing the students with an understanding of how to make streamlined boats, and how to make the most of wind energy.

Another activity saw the students make boats out of plasticine to learn about density and buoyancy. The students were very enthusiastic in all the challenges, working very hard and proving themselves to be budding future engineers.

Mark Sullivan, Technical Director at BMT, comments: “It’s important for leading engineering companies such as ours to inspire our young people and explore the incredible world of STEM. Events such as these provide us with a great opportunity to engage and encourage students from all backgrounds to participate in hands-on STEM projects and let them experience the art of the possible.”

Wessex Water also contributed to the week with Education Advisor, Gillian Smith, delivering an assembly on the human impact of the water cycle, before running scientific investigations in the classrooms for all the children. Hornbeams Pre-school, based at Hemington Primary School, also enjoyed a visit to learn about water.

Later in the week the children worked in groups to design and make their own ‘tippy tap’ handwashing devices, then rounding the week off with a pond-dipping trip to the local stream.

Headteacher, Naomi de Chastelain, said: “This has been a wonderful week full of exciting opportunities for the children to experience the subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths in action. The children are already excited about what we might do next.”