Lower Sixth Form student awarded prestigious Arkwright Scholarship

Lower Sixth student Aman De Silva has been awarded an Arkwright Scholarship, thanks to his interest in engineering and in recognition of his potential to be a future leader in this area.

Mr Currigan, Head of Design and Technology, points out that The Arkwright Trust was founded in 1990 and supports young people during their A-Level years by awarding scholars £300 a year to assist with their studies; mentoring from an industry sponsor; and the opportunity to partake in work experience.

The Design and Technology department receives £200 per successful scholar which it uses to enhance the extra curricular activities of the lower school.

This year eight students from Trinity applied for an Arkwright Scholarship. Students complete an application form, demonstrating their interest in engineering and their potential to be future leaders in related careers. In February students sat a two-hour Arkwright Aptitude paper demonstrating flair and originality in solving Engineering Design problems.

“This year a record number of five students did well enough in the aptitude paper to be invited to interview. This is an achievement in itself and I offer my congratulations to George Ogden, Oliver Pay, Aman De Silva, Lev Titov and Liam Writer,” said Mr Currigan. “Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, the next stage of the process, presenting their design projects to a panel of judges and a university taster day, did not take place and students were selected based on their application form and grade for the aptitude paper.”

A reduction in the number of sponsors this year has meant that less scholarships were awarded than had been in previous years. Aman De Silva has therefore done particularly well to be awarded a prestigious Arkwright Scholarship.

Some 18 Trinity students opted to study Engineering in all its guises at university this year while Ms Manisier adds: “It’s great that so many of our leavers have chosen Engineering as there’s a massive shortage of graduates in this sector. I only started Young Engineers last year but I’m hoping that I may be able to grow it in future to have more relevance to older students, too.”

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