Ten graphics students from Year 10 accepted an invitation to attend an Introduction to Engineering workshop at Amey Engineering in The Matchworks in Speke.

The day began with a presentation about what engineering involved and then straight into their first challenge of the day which was to construct a structure which could support a very heavy engineering textbook, using only cocktail sticks and fruit gems! The girls got straight into the challenge and worked brilliantly in teams and every group achieved the goal.Each group had to work together to decide what worked well, what didn't and how they could improve their construction and their thoughts were shared on a huge whiteboard.

Their experience proved useful in their second challenge - this time, to construct a tower outside which was as tall as the shortest girl in the group, using only sellotape and drinking straws. Before working outside they had to work as a group to come up with their own risk assessment to make sure everyone was going to be safe. As you can see in the pictures the results were impressive. Every stage of the challenges was ably supported by the Amey team.

After lunch, we had a tour and short presentation from some of the Amey Design team who have been using CAD and Traffic Track software in working on the new traffic layout in Leeds Street; new traffic-calming measures in Belvedere Road and a glimpse of how the Queens Drive/Rocket flyover is maintained. It really made us appreciate the engineering that goes into making our city safe.

Each of our students was a fabulous ambassadors for St Julie's, and above all we'd like to say a big thank you to Sonia, Amy and Oife at Amey for making the day such a memorable one.