Heald partners with Hornsea School & Language College to deliver STEM Challenge

Will Compston, Head of Sixth Form presenting the winning team with their certificates.

YORKSHIRE security manufacturer, Heald Ltd delivers STEM challenge to long-standing education partner, Hornsea School & Language College (HSLC) to enhance the understanding of the scope of manufacturing careers.

For the challenge, Heald developed a six-week-long STEM challenge in which they briefed students of a “real world” project scenario to identify which of Heald’s products would be best used for an installation. 

Students were provided with technical information on Heald’s products and insights into HVM (Hostile Vehicle Mitigation), along with fictional locations that required perimeter protection. From this, the students undertook research and put together a presentation on which products they would use and why taking into consideration the installation challenges for each location.

The winning team consisted of George, Conal and Harvey who delivered a well-thought-out plan backed up with research including ground and satellite views of the locations needing perimeter protection. In their presentation, they considered the type of product, challenges with retrofitting in the built environment and the budget.

The winning team were presented with a trophy and cash prize, with two runner up teams also benefiting from a cash prize too. 

Matthew Knapton, STEM pathway lead HSLC said: “The Heald STEM Challenge was a fantastic way for students to engage with a local STEM company in a unique and exciting way.

Working closely with Heald was a great chance to promote STEM careers available to students from HSLC. It helped open the student's eyes to what occupations are available right on their doorstep and encouraged them to find out more about these opportunities. 

The project itself was designed to challenge students in a way they would not be used to working in the classroom. Throughout the project, students developed their teamwork, problem-solving and organisation skills to design an effective solution to the problem posed. The biggest challenge to the students was the open-ended nature of the project. This is an unusual way of working for the students and forced them to be innovative with their solutions. 

On a number of occasions, teams were stuck or did not know what to do but came up with their own answer to the problem. It was great to see students work successfully together in ways much more common in industry than in school. “

Heald Managing Director, Debbie Heald MBE added: “We are extremely proud of our longstanding relationship with Hornsea School and Language College. Providing young people with real-life insights behind the scenes of a manufacturing operation is vital to bringing more talent into the industry.

The quality of presentations from all students who took part in the STEM challenge were exceptional. We look forward to continuing to work with HLSC and their students.”

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