Will It Fly? Students Compete In Nationwide Engineering Challenge

The finals of a nationwide competition to encourage children to consider careers in engineering is taking place this week.

The 'Fly To The Line' competition sees several thousand year 4 and 5 students designing and flying their own gliders. 

Children from 14 primary schools competed in teams of four to design, build and fly gliders the furthest distance.

It is a change for the 278 participating schools to engage with science, technology, engineering and maths - or STEM - in a fun way.

The Midlands finals took place in the Ministry of Defence (MoD)’s Kineton munitions depot.

STEM ambassadors from the Army and the RAF were on hand to help the children build their gliders.

"I think sometimes engineering and science can get a bad reputation and people don't find it exciting," said Major John Rendall, Commanding Officer of Defence Munitions Kineton, "but I think every child that has been here today would completely disagree with that.

"They've all had a fantastic day and they've learnt an awful lot, probably without realising it."

The winners of the day will go on to compete in the national final which takes place at RAF Museum Cosford on the 27 June.