On 25th January, a team of girls from Royal Harbour Academy, went to Canterbury College to participate in the Amey Challenge Cup. The competition takes place in locations around the UK and is designed to inspire girls into STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) careers.
Amey is a leading provider of full life-cycle engineering, operation and decarbonisation solutions for UK infrastructure, and have reported that: “While girls study STEM subjects at school just as much as boys (representing 48% of the total STEM entries at GCSE), there is an ongoing imbalance when it comes to undergraduate degrees and jobs in STEM industries.
Only 24% of the STEM workforce in the UK is female -- and as a major engineering company, Amey is determined to improve gender diversity in the industry.
In the Challenge Cup, girls aged 13-15 are tasked with solving a real-life engineering problem. The girls look at all aspects of an engineering project including planning, budgeting, and managing risk, with the day culminating with teams presenting to a judging panel.”
The day saw the girls embarking on an engineering challenge, where they were tasked with completing a 'project' from start to finish, with each of them taking on roles such as project manager and quantity surveyor. The girls had to design a bridge that was structurally sound, had low impact on the environment and most importantly, cost efficient. The Royal Harbour Academy girls faced competition from other schools, some of whom were older and had completed the challenge before. They had excellent mentors from KCC and Amey, who gave advice and suggestions with costs and timings. When it came to presenting their work, although team RHA were nervous, their presentation was professional, clear and ultimately the best, as they won!
Some lovely comments from the judges, including the Mayor of Margate, were that they loved the girls' honesty and humour, that they worked superbly as a team and that their confidence had grown throughout the day. All the girls should be very proud of themselves and how well they represented our school.
