Today the incredible Year 6 children from Ings Farm Primary School worked extremely hard on the next installment of our ‘Energy Academy Workshops’ funded by Redcar and Cleveland College.

These super-focused Year 6 children from Redcar learned all about renewable energy and the important role it plays in Teesside. We looked more in-depth at the developments at Teesworks and how they could positively impact future career opportunities in their area.

Over the course of this two-hour interactive science session, the children became ‘Energy Engineers’ and independently planned and built their own working model of a wind farm choosing their locations wisely thinking of the financial and ethical implications. Bella, a Year 6 child, said, “Buiding my model wind farm was my favourite part of the session especially planning the routes for my cables on the map and working out the mathematical calculations for the overall cost.” Preston, who is also a pupil in Year 6, commented on how effectively everyone worked together in their teams to complete the tasks.

We didn’t just stop there, we even had time for the ‘Hydrogen Grand Prix’! The children set up their own hydrogen-powered car and learned all about the process of electrolysis to separate the hydrogen from distilled water to power the car before we raced them! This was Isaac’s, a pupil in Year 6, highlight of the day! He told us, at the end of the session, that having the opportunity to use hydrogen-powered cars is not something you do every day and he thoroughly enjoyed racing them! A buzz of excitement filled the hall as the car named after mathematician and first computer programmer Ada Lovelace, won the Hydrogen Grand Prix!

Year 6 pupils and staff had outstanding commitment and engagement levels and we even considered the possibility of hydrogen being the fuel of the future. What a morning and such an incredible Energy Academy session!