Year 5 and 6 from St Oswald’s School in Jeffreyston recently took part in a full day workshop linked to the floating offshore wind sector.

This design challenge was delivered by the Darwin Centre, in partnership with Floventis Energy, a floating offshore wind company who will be using the Celtic Sea off the coast of Pembrokeshire to test and develop floating offshore wind platforms, generating enough power for 200,000 homes.

Pupils became engineers for the day, planning, designing, constructing, and testing their own floating offshore wind platform before putting their design to the test in a paddling pool.

During the second half of the challenge the pupils were presented with a wind turbine which they had to securely attach to their platform, making adjustments along the way to ensure the platform was floating and stable in the water.

The final designs were re-tested with the addition of wind and waves to represent the conditions in the Celtic Sea.

Samantha Williams from the Darwin Centre said: “This new partnership with Floventis Energy has enabled us to expand our provision, investigating floating offshore wind as a renewable energy source and highlighting future career options in this sector.

“St Oswald’s pupils worked exceptionally well, they considered materials and their properties prior to the build and used their problem-solving skills to overcome the challenges faced as a team.”