3rd December 2025 | STEM Learning in the community

As part of our plans to encourage the next generation of engineers in our community, we have been taking part in a series of STEM learning activities around Academies local to our factory in Coventry, Solihull and Birmingham. Here we explain a little about the charitable work we have taken part in most recently at the WMG Academy in Coventry in collaboration with the Bloodhound Charity & the British Gear Association.

The WMG Academies for Young Engineers of secondary school age are located in Coventry and Solihull and two of the traditional curriculum subjects are substituted by Design and Manufacturing subjects throughout their school attendance. They are supported by NDE’s aerospace customers and other large employers in our engineering sector. Rob Bennett of the Bloodhound Charity organised the day long STEM Workshop at the academy. NDE’s Director, Joy Edgington, helped the pupils to design and build their autonomous vehicles and she showed them how the gear kits work that were donated to NDE by its trade body the British Gear Association. Joy helped the pupils to create presentations about what they had learnt about engineering, what went wrong and how they could have improved their design - by for example cutting out vehicle window material to reduce the vehicle’s weight to enable it to travel faster and become more manoeuvrable around a track to successfully complete the project at the end of the day.

 

Joy also gave the pupils careers advice about Engineering Apprenticeships and asked them interview questions like why they had volunteered to be the Team Leader and what sort Leadership, Organisational and Communication skills they thought they had, and how they could develop them and how valuable parenting skills were transferrable to industry. Team members included a Mechanical Engineer, a Electrical Engineer and a Programmers using crumble software and a laptop. It was all about building teamwork and confidence and enthusing the pupils about a career in engineering by giving support, encouragement, praise and of course having fun! Letting the pupils develop their own creative R&D ideas and reassuring them that it is ok to fail a test and try again. Explaining that collaboration with other teams in industry was a positive thing and not seen as negatively as copying in class.

 

Joy’s attended several workshops at schools in and around the Birmingham and Coventry area and she thought that volunteering her free time to undergo training to become an Ambassador for the STEM Learning Charity was a rewarding thing to do for her own personal and business development and also for the pupil and teacher trainers personal development to understand more about industry and its educational needs. Also to help develop engineering career paths for the pupils and try to solve our industry’s skills shortage.

 

It’s a WIN-WIN situation and we would encourage more employers and trade associations to get involved by applying for donating their time, building kits or sponsoring a workshop. Joy has also given talks to various influencers including WM Combined Authority, various WM based Councils Education Departments, and Careers Advisors to try  to ensure that the silent ‘E’ is no longer missing out of the STEM teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths.  To find out more about STEM Learning Charity go to www.stem.org.uk