AN industrious school from Alcester was one of the main winners at the first ever Design and Make Challenge.

Alcester Grammar School beat competition from six other rival schools to take the Manufacturing title at the competition, organised by Manufacturing Assembly Network (MAN).

Four students - Henry Sherrington-Lodge, Ellie Barker, Frazer Forbes, and Will Baxter - swapped their daily lessons for the chance to test out their engineering and design skills by using basic materials and tools to make a device capable of lifting a 13kg block of stainless steel using just a friction grip.

The quartet came up with a fantastic concept that successfully performed the lift and was also chosen as the one that would be the easiest to manufacture in large volumes.

Pupil Ellie Barker said she was delighted to take part.

“It was a quality day and a great opportunity to do something different, working as part of a team to solve a problem," she said.

"It certainly made me want to focus more on being an engineer... industry needs more female engineers.”

The school won an Ultimaker 3D Printing machine.