Nelson and Colne College Sixth Form was pleased to welcome local high schools and colleges to the campus on Friday the 15th March as part of National Science and Engineering Week.

Acting as hosts for The Rotary Club’s Annual Technology Tournament; the College was pleased to assist with this competition which encourages the next generation of students into the challenging professions of engineering and manufacturing!

Nelson and Colne College has an excellent reputation amongst local and regional companies for developing the next generation of engineers. Awarded STEM Assured Status in 2012, which recognises excellence and innovation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, the College provided the perfect setting for this prestigious competition. As well as the visiting Rotarians who had organised the event, the Tournament was visited by Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson and Mayor of Pendle, Councillor Asjad Mahmood.

There were teams from a large number of local schools and colleges, with more than 100 students taking part in the challenge.  Teams were placed into Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced categories, with different levels of design and engineering required in each. During the tournament, teams were assessed on their planning and team organisation, analysis, development of a solution, building their design, an overall project portfolio and final testing of their design. This year’s task was to design and build a weight powered vehicle.

After a day of innovative design and creation, the College was thrilled when one of its teams was named winner of the Advanced Task! This team was made up of College Apprentices Sam Dawson (Hycrome), Daniel Hargreaves (NR Engineering), Adam Robinson (Service United) and Alex Boyd (RNCO).

Head of Division for Science, Maths and Engineering attended the event and said,“I pleased that we were able to host this excellent event which is a fantastic opportunity to encourage more young people towards a career in engineering. Many schools and colleges took part in the competition and the tasks were progressively more difficult. I was therefore thrilled when one of the College Apprentice teams won the advanced task! This team worked extremely hard and were a credit to their employers, Hycrome, Service United RNCO and NR Engineering. It is clear that the young people of Pendle have innovative ideas and that they have a bright future in Engineering ahead of them!”

Event Organiser and Rotarian Geoffrey Atkins said, “The College was extremely supportive of the event and it was clear that staff worked really hard to make the day a success. The facilities are excellent for a large event of this nature and we were pleased to hold it at Nelson and Colne as the college is a STEM centre. The students incorporated some radical ideas  into the weight powered vehicle including multiple pulleys, weights sliding on a slope, four wheel drives, to name a few. The fact that such designs were produced in less than 4 hours, show that innovation is bursting forth in the next generation.”

The Rotarians would like to thank all the teachers and staff from the competing schools and colleges, who support the event with endless enthusiasm. Thanks also go to our sponsors of the Technology Tournament, without who the event could not take place.”