Haylands School pupils see STEM in action at
Hovertravel

02/03/23

Hovertravel hosted two groups of primary school students from Haylands School; providing an opportunity to see technology and engineering in a transport setting, whilst explaining the excitement of being the world’s only year round commercial passenger hovercraft service.

Loretta Lale, Head of Commercial at Hovertravel, explains: “Part of the purpose of the visit was to raise awareness of how hovercraft work and what makes hovercraft different. By reaching out to a younger audience, there's the chance to inspire curiosity-led interest in a different form of transport which is on their doorstep.”

The school children were given a guided tour of the hovercraft at Hovertravel’s Ryde Terminal, with the opportunity to ask questions of one of the pilots and see inside the engine room and pilots’ cockpit. Additionally as the visit was over lunchtime, the pupils enjoyed their lunch break in Hovertravel’s Solent Views meeting room facility, which has unique views over the hoverport and across the Solent to Portsmouth.

“At Haylands Reception we have been learning about different ways of travelling. We especially focussed on the ways we travel on the Isle of Wight and visiting the hovercraft seemed like the perfect opportunity to see our unique travel method in action. The children (and adults) loved finding out about the hovercraft and the pilots. We were so grateful for the welcome Hovertravel gave us and how accommodating they were,” Emma Platts and Gareth Thomas (Haylands teachers).

Hovertravel has a well-established school groups booking procedure and can tailor a visit with talks from pilots, engineers, crew and commercial executives, as well as arranging a flight to demonstrate the hovercraft’s capabilities. Any schools interested in visiting Hovertravel should contact groups@hovertravel.com