Bristol School girl’s Innovative Wheelchair Idea Brought to Life by Thales

Sophie, from West Town Lane Academy in Bristol submitted her engineering idea to Primary Engineer’s annual UK STEM competition which asks pupils aged 3 –19 the question “If you were an engineer, what would you do?”.

She was recognised as one of the Highly Commended in her year group at the South West England award ceremony, one of 25 regional UK events, in 2024.

Her idea makes life a little easier for wheelchair users, helping them reach the things they might not normally be able to. The chair features a button to extend the chair upwards up to 1 metre, raise the seat at an angle plus a safety strap.

Each year Industry and University partners of Primary Engineer choose a pupil’s idea to build into a Prototype and to be revealed a year later at the regional awards ceremony.

Thales selected Sophie’s idea to bring to life during the 2024-2025 academic year and the finished prototype was officially unveiled on 27th June at the South West England regional award ceremony hosted at University of the West of England.

Freya Morris, Bid and Project Management Graduate at Thales said “Working on the Reach up wheelchair prototype was both a blast and hard work, bringing the initial design to life while prioritising safety was our main goal. Getting to work with Sophie during the design stage was great as we wanted to make sure the finished product was exactly what Sophie wanted. Getting to show her the finished prototype was a lot of fun and we’re all very happy Sophie got to demonstrate the prototype.”

“If you were an Engineer, what would you do” is an annual, national competition free to enter for all 3-19 school pupils. Entries are open now for 2025-2026 and schools can register now at www.leadersaward.com

Primary Engineer Public Exhibitions and Award Ceremonies continue all over the UK through to July, with a total of 18 prototypes being unveiled. Read more about the prototypes: https://leadersaward.com/prototeams/