Media centre

Wednesday 21 Apr 2004

NETWORK RAIL SENDS ENGINEERING PUPILS TO TOP OF THE CLASS

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Network Rail in the Midlands is supporting five young A-level students from King Edward VI School in Five Ways, Birmingham, as part of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s ‘Engineering in Education’ scheme. It is the fifth year that Network Rail has worked with the school and the company set the students a project in September last year to design a ‘Self Regulating Signal Lamp Voltage Supply’ device. The project has given the group a chance to develop a solution to a real engineering problem. This year’s project is now nearing completion and the students will join 200 others from schools around the region for a celebration and assessment day at the NEC on Wednesday 28 April. The students will display their work and take part in a formal presentation in front of an assessment panel, where they will be required to answer questions on the project. They will later receive assessor’s comments and will be marked against performance criteria. A public part of the day follows with guests from industry and schools and they will then be presented with their national certificates. - more - Education – 2 Matthew Webster, Assistant Area Signalling Engineer for Network Rail Midlands region is the student team’s engineering tutor he said “ The calibre of work this year has been excellent, the students have thrown themselves into the project and they have all shown a great aptitude in the field of engineering. We have enjoyed working with them and are pleased to be able to support and encourage young people wishing to pursue a career in engineering.” Minesh Patel, one of the five students in the Network Rail team said “This insight into the world of engineering has been beneficial to us all. The EES scheme has allowed me to gain in many ways, I have learnt skills in project management, team development and problem solving. The project encourages you to think beyond the problem itself and develop your ideas in a way that can’t be done inside the classroom; it has been an enjoyable way to further my interest in engineering.” The students taking part in this year’s project are Minesh Patel, Alex Smith, Alison Baylay, Ian Collier and Paul Hampson. Members of the press are invited to attend the EES Assessment and Celebration Day at the Salamander Suite, NEC on Wednesday 28th April between 11am- 2pm. Free parking and refreshments are available. For further information please contact: Caroline Durbin of EES on 0121 414 7933 or e-mail- c.durbin@yini.org.uk