top of page
fernOUTREACH: Inspiring engineers of the future
At fernDOWNLOAD we are passionate about getting more young people involved in engineering, the environment and robotics. Our economy needs nearly 200,000 engineers every year until 2024 to meet demand. The range of careers and sectors engineers are needed in is growing all the time.
Our student members with expert staff have put together high-quality outreach events and activities for children for Key Stage 2 up to Key Stage 3. fernOUTREACH is completely free to any school within a 10 mile radius, if you are interested in any of the talks or events please fill out the contact form below and we will get back to you.
Our facilities and resources
@ Ferndown Upper School
For roboREACH (Y7) and eleREACH (Y8) workshops, students can come and use our amazing digital engineering and ICT facilities.
Our digital engineering suite is fully equipped with a full class set of raspberry pis, micro:bit robots, lego mindstorms robots and components for a range of electronic projects.
Coming to you
For some of our Engineering Rules! workshops we come to your school (see each specific event for details).
We have micro:bit robots we can bring to your schools as part of roboREACH. We also will provide any art/craft and consumable resources for all our events. This is all supported by our staff and most importantly driven by our fantastic fernDOWNLOAD Student Mentors.
Key Stage 2 (Y3-Y6)
"Your World" Talks
Eco-engineering in Action at your school
An assembly of up to 30 minutes for young people about environmental and sustainability choices. Speakers link this to how engineers are going to be needed to help solve some of these issues.
Year 3/4- Littering Your World
A talk on keeping our environment clean and tidy, how the pollution gets there and how engineering can help clean up the mess humans have made.
Year 5/6- The Carbon Problem
A talk on sustainable energy and resource choices and how engineering will help create a better future.
KS2 Engineering Rules!
Practical engineering events at your school
Half day events that engage younger children with engineering and problem-solving challenges.
Year 3/4-Bridging the Gap
2hr session where students must use their resources to design and build bridges to help them escape a rainforest.
What does the session involve?
Our student mentors will introduce the rainforest and how on an expedition they are stuck due to a flood and must design a bridge.
Pupils will be provided with resources such as string and other crafting items. Using suggested designs in groups, pupils compete to build the strongest or longest bridge. Pupils will present their creations at the end in a presentation.
The session ends with our students showing them our amazing FIRST Tech Challenge robots and explaining how exciting engineering careers are with a short presentation.
Year 5/6- A Surprise Lift:
2-3hr session students must create a working lift to carry items up as high as possible from the ground. They work in teams to solve the problem.
What does the session involve?
Our student mentors will introduce the problem that they need to lift and move some items up high using only the resources given.
Pupils will be provided with resources such as string, pulleys and other crafting items. Pupils work together in teams that build lifts that carry either the heaviest mass, or to the highest elevation. Pupils will present their creations at the end in a presentation.
The session ends with our students showing them our amazing FIRST Tech Challenge robots and explaining how exciting engineering careers are with a short presentation.
Key Stage 2
Key Stage 3 (Y7-Y9)
"Your World" Talks
Engineering in Action and Careers
An assembly of up to 30 minutes for young people about environmental issues and careers. Speakers link this to how engineers are going to be needed to help solve some of these issues.
Year 7-9- Engineering Your World
A talk on how engineering is important and a promising career choice. Inspirational examples from a range of sectors including successful female engineers.
Year 7-9- The Carbon Problem
A talk on sustainable energy and resource choices and how engineering will help create a better future. Older version than KS2.
KS3 Engineering Rules!
Practical engineering events at Ferndown Upper School or your School
Half day events that engage younger children with engineering and problem-solving challenges.
Year 7-roboREACH
2hr session at your school OR FUS using minirobots to code, solve problems and compete in competitions
What does the session involve?
Our student mentors will give pupils a problem to solve using our amazing micro:bit robots. Choose from line sensing, maze races or light shows. Pupils will have to code the robots for each of their challenges.
Pupils will be given instructions and one to one support from our trained volunteers. At the end, pupils will compete to see which code worked best. Our mentors will demonstrate their FTC robots in action and be open to questions.
Note: If we come to you, we will need access to a computer suite with internet access, but we will bring our robots and resources.
Year 8- elecREACH
2-3hr session in our digital engineering suite, building circuits and coding them using Raspberry Pis to understand how electronics can be used to create exciting projects.
What does the session involve?
Our student mentors will teach pupils how to create electrical circuits using LEDs, resistors and other components. Pupil will then program these components in a variety of projects using Python 3.0.
Choose from burglar alarm, thermal sensor or a reaction game.
The session ends with our students showing pupils our amazing FIRST Tech Challenge robots and explaining how exciting engineering careers are with a short presentation.
Note: We cannot guarantee provision of transport to our school, this may have to be arranged by the visiting school.
Key Stage 3
bottom of page