Budding engineers top the county for building bridges

Viking Link and Hands On Science workshop leader, Larissa Slaney with Year 6 pupils L-R Edie Hern and Imogen Long. EMN-210212-111300001

The Hands On Science sessions for Year Five and Six children at Heckington primary school have been supported by the National Grid and Viking Link for the past three years as part of a STEM learning partnership project.

Viking Link is an undersea and underground cable system connecting power from wind farms in Denmark to supply the UK grid network, linking up with the substation at Bicker Fen in rural Lincolnshire.

Teacher Holly Ruffy said: “We’ve learned all about the science and technology behind how this works and had various workshops with Hands On Science as part of this, many via zoom.

Viking Link and Hands On Science workshop leader, Mark Walton with Year6 pupils L-R Leon Woodcock, Charley Sear and Joshua Oldrey EMN-210212-111248001

“This was the first in-person workshop since the first lockdown and a really exciting STEM morning for our children.

“We have been accessing STEM workshops with them for the past three years now.”

The session was all about building bridges and rivets. The Hands On Science project leaders revealed the school topped the Lincolnshire leaderboard in this challenge. Their bridges withstood a weightload of 1.391kg and their cable rivet work held 113.93kg of pressure. They even surpassed year nine groups working on the project.

Ms Ruffy said: “Our year six children have been a part of this from the very beginning and it has ignited an interest in engineering and the world of STEM in them.”