Primary school children enjoyed some hands-on engineering during a face-to-face visit by the Rochester Bridge Trust.
Fifty-four youngsters at Westgate Primary School in Dartford took part in an assembly about the importance of bridges and how they work, before being challenged to build their own.
Education Manager Caroline Chisholm ran the activities. She said: “It was great to be back at our first in-person event since March 2020, even more so because of the enthusiasm of the children taking part.
“All applied themselves to the task, constructing some very well thought out designs. This activity is a great way for the youngsters to learn about the real-world application of some of their classroom learning and I am sure it has inspired a few bridge engineers of the future.”
The children split into groups to build paper bridges, which were then tested to identify the strongest. This linked to the Year 6 curriculum which teaches forces, and acted as a taster event for a STEM Club the school hopes to launch.
Teacher Sharon Maidment added: “It was great to see how well the children engaged with the bridge building challenge, thinking like engineers and problem solving. Thank you to the Rochester Bridge Trust for visiting our school to run this event.”