Swansea University and Oundle School have announced a new strand of their long-running partnership: the formation of an Engineering Outreach Hub in the East Midlands, commencing this academic year. The Hub will provide engineering opportunities for school children across the region, helping inspire the next generation of young British engineers. From hands-on workshops, links with local industry, specific women in engineering events and STEM challenges, the opportunities will enable children of all ages and backgrounds to gain an insight into the multi-faceted world of engineering.

Oundle already works alongside several state sector schools as part of the Oundle, Peterborough and East Northants (OPEN) Learning Partnership, which provides academic opportunity for over 12,000 pupils each year.
The formation of this Hub seeks to create more opportunities for children across the East Midlands to benefit from its facilities and specialist staff, in particular the Patrick Engineering Centre. It is home to state-of-the-art machining and CNC machining technologies, the most advanced set of rapid prototyping machines in any school in the world. Features include Direct Metal Printing, Polyjet 3D printing, UV Resin Technologies, Siemens controlled 5-axis CNC Milling, composite fabrication equipment, materials testing equipment and commercial grade 3D scanning.

This investment of expertise from Swansea is part of the ever-increasing range of opportunities the School seeks to offer to the young people in the region. The up-to-date knowledge of low carbon technology, manufacturing techniques and many other fields of research at the Swansea Engineering Faculty will add a great deal to what can be offered to interested pupils in nearby schools, and will hopefully inspire them on their journey.

Prof Ben Evans, Head of Aerospace Engineering, Swansea University said: “We, at Swansea, are delighted to be launching this new partnership with Oundle School. The East Midlands Outreach Hub will give us the platform to take some our world leading engineering research and make it accessible to young people in order to inspire a new generation of engineers. We look forward to working closely with Oundle School to open up more opportunities for young people across the region to engage with engineering.”

Businesses and schools in the Peterborough or East Northants region are welcome to contact Oundle School’s Partnerships and Outreach department for further information: partnerships@oundleschool.org.uk.