Isle of Man pupil’s win big in national engineering competition  

An awards and exhibition event was held on 8th July at University College of Isle of Man, which showcased and celebrated local school pupils across Isle of Man for their engineering ideas submitted to the Primary Engineer annual UK STEM competition.      

These pupils had taken part in a national competition, run by educational not-for-profit Primary Engineer, where they answered the question “If you were an engineer, what would you do?”. Pupils interview an engineer, learn how to think like an Engineer and are tasked with identifying a problem in the world around them and coming up with a creative solution to that problem.  

Entries were then graded by local industry professionals before going to a regional judging panel were they picked two winners and two highly commended for each year group.   

The highly commended and winning pupils were awarded trophies and framed certificates of their ideas, with 21 pupils from schools in the Town being celebrated.  

Congratulations to all the pupils, including Year 5 pupil Ayla from Ashley Hill School, whose idea “Magnetic Key” stood out for the judges and won the special ‘Judges Award’. Ayla identified it can be hard for older people or those less physically able to lock or unlock the door without the key falling out of place. Her idea is a key with a magnetic end to solve this problem, and the sensor feature makes the key beep as it gets closer to the keyhole.  

For the first time on the Isle of Man, a partner of Primary Engineer chose a pupil’s idea to build into a Prototype and to be revealed a year later at the regional awards ceremony. Swagelok, who is one of the companies in the ACE Committee (Awareness of Careers in Engineering), comprising of engineering companies in the Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce, selected ‘The Magnetic Coaster for Space’ design to prototype. They selected this idea, from Year 3 student, Eryn at Kewaigue School, to prototype because of Swagelok’s long history with space exploration.  Read more: https://www.primaryengineer.com/astronaut-praises-isle-of-man-prototype/

Primary Engineer were joined by Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man, His Excellency Sir John Lorimer also joined by Nick Gibbs, Engineering Chair at the Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce for the presentation to pupils on the night.   

Lieutenant Governor, His Excellency Sir John Lorimer said “Primary Engineer have been bringing engineering to the Isle of Man with their annual engineering competition for several years now. Over this time, we have seen the positive impact of this on local school pupils, and the important role initiatives like this play in inspiring young people to pursue career opportunities in the engineering sector. It was a pleasure to attend the regional award ceremony and witness the creativity and innovation of these pupils”. 

Nick Gibbs, Engineering Chair at the Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce and Group director at Strix Ltd, said “It was an honour to join the IoM Governor in presenting the awards to our local winners. The judging committee and I were highly impressed by the number and quality of the submitted ideas, it gives us great hope in the next generation of Engineers coming through.” 

Natasha Kinnear, Head of Partnerships for North West England at Primary Engineer said ‘It has been such a privilege to bring ‘If you were an engineer, what would you do?’ to the Isle of Man. Working in more remote communities like this is incredibly important to us. It ensures that every young person, no matter where they live, has the opportunity to see themselves in engineering and to be inspired by the possibilities around them. What has been truly special about the Isle of Man is the incredible collaboration between the engineering businesses across the island. From volunteering their time to grade pupil entries, to mentoring, judging, and even building one of the winning designs into a working prototype, the passion and commitment from the engineering community here has been phenomenal. This is what makes the programme so impactful: young people seeing firsthand how engineers work together to solve real problems, right in their own communities’. 

“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 thousands of pupils engineering ideas being displayed for all to see.  Find out more: https://leadersaward.com/exhibitions-and-events/