This is the second year running that Baxi, which has a manufacturing facility in Bamber Bridge, has supported the Primary Engineer programmes in the Preston area. Ten of the company’s engineers have spent the last four months working with teachers in participating primary schools as they deliver the Primary Engineer Construction project to the children.

At the Celebration Event, the Baxi engineers tested and judged the builds, then interviewed the children who were excited to explain the research they had carried out, the aspects of the project they liked best, and the engineering knowledge they had acquired through the process. Aisha Siddique, a Mechanical Engineer Degree Apprentice at Baxi who was one of the judges on the day, emphasised the need to encourage an interest in engineering from the early years. “We need to educate children on what an engineer does, and the wide variety of career paths open to them from an early age.

Understanding why we’ve chosen this career and bringing real-world engineering into the classroom is so valuable. The project helps to develop essential skills like visualising, creative problem-solving, testing and evaluation, improving and adapting, along with teamwork and communication – all of which come into play with engineering.”