On Thursday 16th November, Year 8 attended a Women in Engineering event at Niftylift at its headquarters in Milton Keynes. The purpose of the event is to give female students a peek behind the curtain of one of the country’s most forward-thinking engineering companies, discovering the different career paths available to them in the Engineering Industry and learning about engineers' vital roles in today’s society.

Tamara Year 8) reflected about the inspiring visit: “I really enjoyed our school trip to the Niftylift Women in Engineering Event. Our day started with an in-depth tour of the factory where we learned about how they build their machines. During this tour, we saw how the production lines worked and what people do there. Afterward, we tried operating one of the machines and learned how to use the control system. It was surprising to see how quietly the electric vehicles worked and how easy they were to use! The staff were really friendly and helpful, always ready to answer our questions.

"Following that, we learned about safety on the machinery before delving into the buyers who source products for the company. Understanding the cost of parts was genuinely interesting. Then, we engaged in CAD (Computer-Aided Design), editing measurements on prototype drawings. After this, we participated in some of my favourite activities, using realistic tools from the production line to fit tires and employing screwdrivers and wrenches. We also worked in teams, simulating a production line.

"Finally, most people's favourite part was going up very high on the cherry pickers. It was incredibly fun, and we had a panoramic view of Milton Keynes all around us. I loved this trip and it was really inspiring to think about engineering as a career. Thank you to Mrs Gethins (Head of Science) and Dr Tansell (Head of Computer Science) for taking us on this amazing trip!”