Lower Sixth student, Tom Corrie, has been successful in his application to become an Arkwright Engineering Scholar. Tom has written the following of his achievement:

“Back in September 2021 Mr Stockley introduced and encouraged me to apply for the Arkwright Engineering Scholarship.

It involved a rigorous selection process starting with an application and engineering aptitude exam. The application had to contain evidence of engineering achievements both in and out of school.

Leadership, teamwork and communication skills also needed to be shown. These skills are what Arkwright looks for in their applicants as well as a passion for engineering.

The engineering aptitude exam took place in early February, it was two hours long and consisted of developing design solutions for a selection of problems. The aim of the exam is to test the applicant’s knowledge of engineering and also their creativity.

After the first two stages, successful applicants are invited for interview, which assess their engineering knowledge and communication skills.

There are approximately 1500 applicants each year for this prestigious engineering scholarship. Each scholar is sponsored by a company or the armed forces, who provide its scholars with the opportunity to further develop their passion for engineering through workshops, lectures, webinars and also hands on work experience.

I have been sponsored by the Royal Air Force which was my first choice. I will now have the opportunity of work experience in the RAF engineering branch.

The scholarships are awarded at ceremonies in London and Edinburgh where there are guest engineers that talk about the future of engineering and how scholars can be a huge part of it.

At the ceremony you have the opportunity to meet your sponsors in person and other scholars.

It was a fantastic experience where everyone celebrated their success in receiving their scholarship after such hard work and commitment for the past year.”

Huge congratulations to Tom for his hard work and determination.