Five Year 9 students were selected to take part in the prestigious iRail finals in Birmingham. The group had a tour of the new High Speed Rail College where they got to use virtual reality technology to solve engineering problems and the latest computer technology to design train carriages and stations.

This was followed by a behind the scenes tour of Birmingham New Street station where the students got to see the control nerve centre and talk to the people behind the regeneration project.

The days finale was a bridge building competition where the students were competing against 18 other schools. The team performed superbly well and took a close 3rd place overall.

Claire Ballinger, Aspirations Mentor, said: “We work hard to give our students a taste of ‘real life’ and this engineering and development based activity was a real insight into current developments. The competition was incredibly intense and we were delighted with our heralded third place finish.”