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Cambridgeshire schools compete in fire service STEM challenge

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service recently held a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) school challenge, seeing pupils from across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough compete against each other.

Pupils were given three months to design and build their version of a fire engine, which would deliver water to a model of a house. The teams came together at the new Huntingdon fire station and competed to see who could deliver the most water through their fire engines. They also had to deliver a presentation to a panel about their design. The judging panel included Deputy Chief Executive Matthew Warren, along with officers from the Service’s Operational Support Group and Combined Fire Control.

The day also saw the pupils take part in a variety of activities including learning about the Service’s drone and incident command unit, and using a thermal imaging camera to find hidden objects in a training building. They also learnt some first aid from the RAF Wittering Co-Responder team and received a talk from Cambridgeshire Constabulary.

The students did an incredible job. Ormiston Bushfield Academy won the competition, ahead of Arthur Mellows Village College, Thomas Clarkson Academy and The Kings School.

Speaking about the challenge, Head of ICT John Fagg said “I am passionate about promoting STEM careers within schools, particularly in the areas of IT and cyber security which are suffering from a shortage of skilled individuals to meet current and future demands.

"Our Schools Challenge provides us with an ideal platform to demonstrate the wide range of technologies in use to assist in the prevention of fires and in the response to incidents.

"It can be hard for pupils to relate the STEM subjects with real world examples of their use, and both the challenge and the activities on the competition day have hopefully helped to inspire the next generation of technologists in a fun and educational way.”