McLaren visit - STEM 
Thanks to our wonderful Head of Science, Miss Gregory, we had a visit from McLaren on 5th November with their newly launched Extreme E racing car, first launched this November at COP26 in Glasgow. We are the first school to see the car and to collaborate with McLaren and the Smallpeice Trust.
McLaren have announced their first ever female driver, Emma Gilmour who visited us today along with Kenny Kong, reliability engineer and STEM Coordinator. The whole school was able to hear from them in assembly where they told the students about their work and career paths. A representative from the Smallpeice Trust talked to students about the work they are doing to bring fantastic STEM days to schools. STEM of course meaning Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. Years 10 and 11 heard about about the possibility of applying for an Arkwright Engineering Scholarship. McLaren water bottles were awarded to students who asked questions during the assembly.
The visit was so aspirational for the students and we are very grateful that Miss Gregory was so quick to get Fernhill signed up first for such a fantastic opportunity. McLaren said that her organisational skills were second to none! Take a look at our photos below.
“Thank you so much to Miss Gregory for organising the day - it was amazing”. “This is the best school event EVER” “I would definitely beat Miss Speed in a race if we were racing those cars” “The logo is on the car, that's actually quite cool” “This is WICKED!!”
BBC Radio Surrey https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0b3jksl ITV Meridian https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2021-11-10/mclarens-first-female-race-car-driver-inspires-students-at-farnborough-school McLaren https://mobile.twitter.com/mclarenxe
McLaren visit with Extreme E racing car
A group of lucky students got to question Emma Gilmour around the car and were also filmed by the BBC and ITV. Students were able to come and see the car at break time and many obtained signatures from Emma, Kenny and any adult in a McLaren uniform! We were delighted to see our school shield on the car.
STEM day for Year 9
McLaren helped to write a STEM day activity for Year 9, and the Smallpeice Trust delivered this to tutor groups 9 1 and 9 3 in November. They return in March to visit 9 2 and 9 4. They will continue to work with Fernhill in future years so Years 7 and 8 will also have this opportunity.
The main hall was full of activity as students worked in teams to build the most aerodynamic car. Each student was given a role within their team such as marketing executive, team leader and mechanical engineer. Students had to stay within budget and carefully calculate their overall expenditure. Once built, students had to pitch their plan to the rest of the groups. Students also learnt about future careers within STEM and how skills learnt during the day can help them in the future.
Smallpeice Trust
Who are the Smallpeice Trust I hear you say, and have we spelt it correctly? Their founder, Dr Cosby Smallpeice, was a brilliant engineer who invented the Smallpeice Lathe. For 50 years The Smallpeice Trust has been giving young people everything they need to fuel their passion for engineering. These links have more information: https://www.smallpeicetrust.org.uk/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosby_Smallpeice We would like to extend our thanks to the Smallpeice Trust for their visit and for encouraging our students in the pursuit of STEM.
