Mrs Smart (Head of Science)

Thursday 23rd June was the 9th International Women in Engineering Day organised by the Women’s Engineering Society. Even though the numbers have improved in recent years, the highest estimates of women in engineering in the UK are still only 16.5%. Engineering careers are wide and varied and include fields as diverse as civil and mechanical through to chemical, computer, biomedical and environmental.

To celebrate this, the science, computer science, maths and DT departments held a series of events throughout the week. Each day there were activities running in I-Create on a space theme. We made space rockets, spectroscopes, constellation viewers and origami space stations and carried out a Sphero Mars lander task. Year 8 also enjoyed getting hands-on at the Big Bang STEM Fair on Wednesday 22nd June.

On the day itself, we had a paper tower making challenge during House assemblies. We were delighted to also welcome back inspirational alumnae and engineers Lucy Hill (née Scott, DAHS 2011), Sharon Kindleysides (DAHS 1987), Melody Stokes (BHS 1974) and Elizabeth Gilbertson (née McDonald, BHS 1999) who helped with the spaghetti and marshmallow tower building challenge at lunchtime. Between them, they have worked on projects as wide ranging as aerospace engineering for the RAF, designing and installing the roof on No. 1 court at Wimbledon and designing and installing traffic flow mechanisms on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Our Lower Sixth STEM students also enjoyed an engaging lunch with the alumnae.

Later in the day, a couple of brave alumnae then stayed to join Year 7 in maths, creating Mars lander capsules to support an egg in extreme turbulence, which was simulated by shaking it vigorously in a storage container. This was a raucous affair and much enjoyed by everyone who took part!

A big thank you also to Emma Forbes-Laird (née Hudart, BHS 1994) who was unable to join us but sent a presentation about her area of engineering expertise. We hope that we have managed to inspire some of the engineers of the future.