PEGL Apprentices inspire young engineers in innovation and design challenge

28th April 2015

Bradfield School were the winners of the 'Get up to Speed' Innovation and Design challenge, working in partnership with Sheffield based President Engineering Group (PEGL).

For the project, PEGL set the team of 11 year 9 pupils from the school the challenge of designing a display stand to show scaled down models of their valves to be used in the company's reception and exhibition area. Pupils worked with apprentice engineers from PEGL to design and manufacture the stand, which displayed six valves. Isobel Hemington from Bradfield Technology College, said: -We all worked really well together as a team, with each of us taking on different roles. It was great to be able to work on a real life challenge and to learn from the Apprentice engineers at PEGL. Marie Cooper, Director at President Engineering Group, said: -This is the first time we have been involved in the Get up to Speed challenge and it has been a fantastic experience, it has been great to see the year 9's develop their skills, as well as a new learning experience for our apprentices. We would like to say a big congratulations to Bradfield School on winning the competition, especially as the standard was so high with some excellent entries from other schools too. President Engineering Group was one of the supporters of the Get up to Speed event, organised by the work-wise foundation, which aims to inspire young people about the opportunities in engineering. The event, which was held at Magna Science Adventure Centre on 22nd April was attended by 2,000 school children from over 40 schools, with over 50 businesses exhibiting from across the area. President Engineering Group Ltd has recently secured the Queen's Award for International Trade and is one of only 105 firms in the UK to achieve this prestigious accolade (for International Trade). This was achieved due to its outstanding overseas sales growth over the last three years. Established in 2010, President Engineering Group Ltd is made up of three business units: Bestobell which manufactures valves for the industrial, marine and liquefied natural gas industries; Conflow, produces safety equipment for the mining industry and Bretby Gammatech, which designs and produces monitoring equipment for mining.