TWO teams of Year 9 pupils from Mount Kelly recently travelled to Plymouth to visit Devonport Dockyard and the new MVV environmental incinerator as part of their STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and Product Design studies. 

At the Dockyard they climbed aboard HMS Courageous, a decommissioned cold war nuclear submarine, and enjoyed clambering through the hatches and narrow corridors, up and down steep ladders, through the cramped officers and crew quarters, tiny kitchen, torpedo room and control tower. The visit ended with a trip to the Naval Heritage Centre.

The pupils were amongst some of the first students to visit the relatively new MVV Incinerator in Plymouth.

The incinerator is designed to save land fill and produces vital electricity through steam turbines for nearby homes as well as piped steam heating for the neighbouring Devonport Dockyard.

During the visit the teams saw how household waste is delivered, dropped into underground storage bins, grabbed and placed on conveyors and fed into huge steam producing furnaces. The highlight for one lucky pupil was to be able to operate the mechanical grab (much like the well-loved seaside arcade game) that picked up the waste and deposited it onto the furnace feeding conveyor!

The pupils will draw upon this invaluable experience when undertaking their school work back in Tavistock.