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26th May 2022

SMALLPEICE NOMINEE ANNOUNCED AS RUNNER UP OF 2022 DAVID CLARK PRIZE

The 2022 David Clark prize winners have been announced – with three outstanding teachers being recognised for their hard work and dedication to showcasing real world engineering in the classroom.

Each year, the ERA Foundation awards two prizes - one for teachers working in primary schools and another for teachers in secondary schools, colleges or UTCs. Nominations are made directly to the ERA Foundation or through selected partners who work with schools and colleges to promote engineering, such as The Smallpeice Trust. Each year, The Trust nominates a hard-working teacher from our network of schools.

Cath Milne from Avoch Primary School and Rebecca Lofthouse from Skipton Girls’ High School were each awarded the coveted prize for their highly receipted vision for engineering, where both have been praised for their creativity in shaping their work with young people.

Alongside Cath and Rebecca, the ERA Foundation recognised The Smallpeice Trust’s nominee, Jacqui Sandbach, from Lancaster Girls’ Grammar School. Jacqui was announced as a runner up for this year’s David Clark Prize, for her passion in promoting engineering vocations to girls and young women and encouraging them to be successful whilst engaging in inspiring STEM activities.

It is only in exceptional circumstances that the Chair of the ERA Foundation will provide runner up awards, so it is a testament to Jacqui’s enthusiasm and vision in engineering that she was recognised in this way.

Jacqui was nominated by one of our Arkwright Engineering Scholarships Liaison Officers, Phillip Taylor. Throughout Phillip’s frequent visits to Jacqui’s school, he was consistently amazed at how many extracurricular engineering activities the students were able to take part in and commended their enthusiasm in wanting to learn more about engineering. There is an awareness that we need to encourage more females into engineering, so Jacqui’s role in encouraging and supporting more girls into engineering for over 20 years is a victory for the industry and only cements her well-deserved success.

Phillip Taylor, Arkwright Engineering Scholarships Liaison Officer, said:

“Jacqui was an obvious nominee for the David Clark Prize, her enthusiasm and vision for engineering, witnessed during the last eight years, through my role as an Arkwright Liaison Officer, was clear. In that time, in terms of numbers of Arkwright Engineering Scholarships achieved, Lancaster Girls’ Grammar School have easily been the most successful school in the Northwest of England. However, that is just the tip of an engineering iceberg. Jacqui has developed an ethos at the school where, not just through the curriculum, any pupil at any level can engage in engineering activities. I had the fantastic task of informing Jacqui of her success. I regard her David Clark Prize as a ‘lifetime achievement award’. It is so well deserved.”

Congratulations to all the winners of this year’s awards! If you are interested in nominating a teacher for next year’s awards, please visit: https://www.erafoundation.org/

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