Celebrating an Engineering Partnership

Roke Manor Research Limited, a Siemens Company, has formalised its relationship with the Quilley School of Engineering in Eastleigh, through establishing it as a Partner School.

Quilley is one of only four Secondary Schools in the UK to be distinguished with this status, and its selection recognises the school's scientific credentials and ambition to nurture engineers of the future.

The venture was commemorated by a special ceremony at the school on June 20th, attended by Werner Busch, the Leader of Siemens Partner School Programme who flew in from Siemens, Germany especially for the event. Werner was joined by Dave Smith, Managing Director of Roke and Paul Wilton, a former Quilley pupil and Project Manager from Roke who has been a strong advocate of the partnership.

This activity marks Roke and Siemens long term commitment to challenge, enthuse and engage students in science and technology. The company believes that this is fundamental in developing home grown, engineering talent and ensuring that the UK continues to compete on the world stage in developing the cutting edge technology of the future.

Commenting on the event, Werner stated that:

"Roke's partnership with Quilley really captures the spirit of Siemens education programme. Just listening to some of the presentations at the ceremony confirmed the positive impact that Roke's involvement has already had".

Dave Smith echoed this commitment.

"Engineering is one of this country's greatest strengths and assets. The world class engineers at Roke benefit from working with enthusiastic and talented children at Quilley: they have shown that the pupils can be inspired by the knowledge and achievements that have made Roke renowned for excellence".

A wide-reaching activity plan has been developed to support and strengthen the partnership. Roke will be delivering "science in action" workshops, which Quilley aim to tailor and cascade down to their feeder primary schools, as well as up-skilling Quilley's teachers in applied physics. The company also plans to strengthen Quilley's science curriculum through contributing to their Engineering Diploma.

Quilley's students have been hard at work designing a mural to mark the partnership and Dave and Werner judged the winning entry at the event. The chosen design will be recreated on a wall within the science block.