Year 4 pupils at Isleworth Town Primary School were overjoyed to be visited by the Bloodhound Education team recently and take part in an ‘Engineering Inspiration Day.’

After a presentation about Bloodhound Project and the challenges overcome in building a 1,000mph car, the 120 children were treated to an Explore Science roadshow, around a full- size replica of Bloodhound in the school playground. Working in teams, pupils also designed and built their own air-powered rocket cars using K’Nex which they tested and modified as engineers do.

Bloodhound’s Anthony Rhodes and Mark Werrell ran the Bloodhound workshops and the team judged to have made the best car – team “Thunder Storm”, with pupils Adrienne, Grace, Limoni and Neleswa – will have their team name printed on the tail fin of Bloodhound LSR when it makes its record breaking runs in South Africa.

Where Bloodhound really comes from

Bloodhound were supported on the day by a team from Anglo American, who ran their own session entitled ‘Be a Miner for a Day’. This included aspects such as where the materials in the Bloodhound car (as well as everyday life) come from and how they are produced.

“The Bloodhound inspiration day was a great platform for us to introduce new concepts about metals and mining,” said Helen Amos from Anglo American. “Using an engineering project such as Bloodhound helps to bring the subject of mining to life, a concept which many school children won’t get much exposure to ordinarily.”

Amazing and inspirational

Teacher Sarah-Jane Hassan said: “It was an amazing day. The children absolutely loved all of the planned activities. All of the workshops were very encouraging to the children in regards to perseverance, learning through mistakes and overall growth mindset. The children felt that they could achieve anything!”

Sarah-Jane added: “Having the car on the playground prompted many parents to comment on how amazing it was and how lucky we were to receive it.”