Fifteen of us, from Years 8 & 9 set out very early on a misty October morning to attend an event being held at the NEC in Birmingham. Unexcitingly it was called the PPMA Total Show and is one of the largest Processing and Packaging Machinery Exhibitions in the UK and  it was well worth the visit.

This was a convention displaying all different  types of machines and robots needed and used for packaging and processing foods and other necessities before they make it onto the supermarket shelf. In fact, when we got there we were overwhelmed by the massive warehouse full of technology and it was hard to walk past some of the amazing stalls when we first got there  Then once inside and settled we were guided through the bright and shiny stalls, all wanting to tell us the story of their business brimming with professional and facts.

The day started with a French robot called “Nao” showing us his amazing balance, Tai Chi and boxing skills, all with the aim of showing us all what you can do with your coding skills and why we do it at school. Some of the things we were shown included robots that work around humans and could help them day to day and industrial robots that can’t work or interact with human. I didn’t know robots came in so many shapes and sizes and could do so much, it really broadened my mind on the business and job opportunities in the industry.

On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of helping with a Year 7 STE@M event with an organisation called “Tomorrows Engineers”.   Having only been at Mosslands for one term, this was the first event of this kind that I was part of and I must say, it was excellent and really highlighted to me the potential and creativity that our boys have.  At first, some students were uncertain about the workshop but their engagement soon shifted as they realised that the subject of STE@M was part of everyday life including in sport, cars and fashion. The electric car challenge really got all of the boys interested and they were all excited to work together and achieve their goal. This was a very exciting day for all involved and Steve, the lead presenter, was such an amazingly engaging and enthusiastic mentor to our boys. Well done to the STE@M team. SB staff

 Pupils were impressed with the day too and said :-

“I was told it was going to be a taster day for Engineering. I immediately was looking forward to it. I was expecting it to be fun whilst using your imagination to build and create or even design robots