Today the incredible Year 5 children from Acklam Whin Primary School and their Digital Leaders worked extremely well together during our ‘Renewable Energy in Action’ session.

These super-focused Year 5 children from Middlesbrough learned about renewable energy and its important role in Teesside. We looked more in-depth at the developments at Teesworks and how they could positively impact future career opportunities in their area.

During the morning, 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. George, a Year 5 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 on my spreadsheet.” Ebony, also a pupil in Year 5, commented on how effectively everyone worked together in their teams to complete the tasks.

We didn’t just stop there, after dinner, we dived back in and looked at the mechanics behind the technology fueling today’s automotive revolution while setting up their own hydrogen-powered car! Under the watchful eye of the Digital Leaders, the Year 5 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 Haria’s, a pupil in Year 5s, highlight of the day! She 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 she thoroughly enjoyed racing them in the Hydrogen Grand Prix! A buzz of excitement filled the hall as the car named after the father of electricity Michael Faraday won the race!

Year 5 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 day and such an incredible Renewable energy in-action session!