Nissan Skills Foundation inspires thousands of children after event and tour of Sunderland Plant

Nissan’s Skills Foundation welcomed just under 2,000 school children to the Nissan Sunderland Plant for their annual School Engineering Event.

The event sees thirty five schools take part at the Sunderland Plant across two weeks, with the event set to inspire thousands of young minds.

More than 80,000 pupils have now taken part in the Nissan Skills Foundation event since it launched ten years ago.

The two-week event involves children learning about how car manufacturing has evolved over the past 30 years, and how Nissan is creating a new ecosystem for making electric vehicles with renewable energy.

Children from schools across Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and Durham were given a tour of the plant’s final assembly line, which allowed them to see the UK’s best seller Qashqai, the 100% electric Nissan LEAF and Juke roll off the line.

The experience also allowed children to build a marble roller coaster in a team challenge, using paper and sticky tape.

Adam Pennick, Vice President of Manufacturing, at Nissan Sunderland, said: “There is no better way to be inspired by the world of engineering and manufacturing than to see it up close, first hand.

“This is a fantastic event, which challenges youngsters to think as engineers and which helps shape their future career plans. I know, because we have members of the team now working at the plant who were inspired by the Skills Foundation.

“We at Nissan Sunderland are delighted to invest in the next generation of talent because the school children of today are our world class automotive workforce of tomorrow. I hope we will be welcoming more than a few of the pupils who took part in this event back to our plant in the years ahead.”

The aim of the event is to inspire young people to think about a career in the industry, giving school children the opportunity to learn in a hands-on experience, and to advance their science, technology, engineering and maths skills and knowledge.

Jess Corrigan, School Liaison Officer at the Nissan Skills Foundation, said: “This year’s event was a massive success.”

She continued: “We’ve had fantastic feedback from the schools, and it has been wonderful to hear so many children saying they feel inspired to pursue careers in engineering and manufacturing after taking part.”

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