STUDENTS from three schools in the Salisbury area joined forces to take part in an challenge supported by the Institute of Engineering and Technology.

On Wednesday, September 18, The Wellington Academy hosted students from Test Valley School and Godolphin School to take part in the Faraday Engineering Challenge/

The challenge is an annual competition of STEM activities for students aged 12 -13.

The aspiring engineers are faced with real-world problems and have to use team work to create a solution.

The students had a brief from Airbus and spent the day working hard to plan and build a prototype to present to the rest of the group.

Every aspect of the day was assessed from planning to budgeting to teamwork and each of the teams created a different kind of product to present, they also had to include an electrical component.

Each of the students received an Industrial Cadets Challenger Award for completing a hands-on problem solving and critical thinking activity and the winning team was awarded with a voucher each and a trophy for their school.

The winners also gained a place on the regional league tables, the top teams of which will be invited to the regional finals and on to an all expenses paid trip to the national finals where the winner will receive a £1,000 for their school to spend on STEM activities.

Each of the six participating teams (three from Wellington, two from Test Valley and one Godolphin) worked hard all day and created some brilliant prototypes that with some development could solve real-world problems.

The winning team was the Godolphin team, creating a raft which could be lowered from an aircraft into a disaster zone using a pulley system and had a moisture sensor to set off a buzzer when it hit water.