20 pupils from local schools have been taking part in a series of Royal Institution Engineering Masterclasses, hosted and delivered by staff and students from WMG and other Science departments at Warwick. An official presentation and awards ceremony for the children took place on 13 July 2013, attended by teachers and parents, to mark their participation in the series.

Year 9 students from several local schools have been attending regular Saturday morning masterclasses over a period of six weeks. The sessions were designed to spark their interest in a wide variety of engineering paths. Topics covered over the series included programming robots, understanding waves, intelligent vehicles and 3D printing.

Engineering Masterclasses were recently initiated by the Royal Institution in order to introduce Year 9 pupils to engineering through practical hands-on experience alongside working engineers. Through the sessions, the students are encouraged to learn about the latest engineering applications and think about the possibilities for the future.

Students particularly commented on the satisfaction of seeing the results of the hard work they put into planning tasks, the enjoyment of working together as a team and understanding the science behind the way things work.

The 20 participating students from Year 9 (age 13/14) were nominated for the masterclasses by their schools. Schools from the Coventry, Warwickshire and Solihull area took part including Blue Coat, Cardinal Newman, Stoke Park, Caludon Castle, Coundon Court, Hartshill, Kenilworth, North Leamington and Heart of England.

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