Year 7, along with their teacher Mrs Samantha Williams, embarked on a study of local bridges, inspired by their school logo which depicts the stone arch bridge in their local village of Stanocum.

Bridges for different purposes and made of different materials were studied along with ambassador engineers Paul Glackin, from local firm R. Robinsons and Sons, and Cathy Nickell, from Taylor and Boyd LLP.

Local company, Smyth Steel Ltd, Coleraine, helped with the project by coming along on our field trip and discussing the issues arising in the construction of bridges. The pupils and Mrs Williams would also like to thank the staff in the planning office of Smyth Steel who generously gave of their time and expertise to draw up the pupils designs for their final part of the project using Strucad. The class designed a foot bridge to span a one metre distance and this is now on display in the school building.

The project culminated in a celebration day at the University of Ulster, Jordanstown, when a group from the class represented the school when presenting their project through the form of a display and power point presentation to the others involved and representatives form the Institute of Civil Engineering.