MORE than 200 pupils at Peebles High were given some science and technology food for thought last week.

Evolution Bottling and Packaging Solutions, who are based in the town's Cavalry Park, helped facilitate the day of of hands on STEM activities.

STEM subjects - Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths - have been failing to attract enough senior students in recent years.

And it is hoped that these events will turn the tide.

Trade Association PPMA launched their charitable Trust PPMA Best (Business Education, Skills and Training) in 2014 to encourage young people to enter and develop a career in engineering within the processing, packaging, robotics, automation and industrial vision supply industries through education, training and support.

With the backing of PPMA Best, Evolution was able to bring Peebles High the Education Development Trust STEM day, which was delivered to around 220 S3 pupils who are currently at the critical stage of considering their subject options.

All the pupils involved in the S3 STEM day gained the Industrial Cadets Challenger Award.

Peebles High School depute headteacher Ross McLaren told the Peeblesshire News: “STEM days are really important in schools to allow the young people to develop an ambition within the STEM industry.

"This has been a fantastic event for our Young People, engaging in high quality tasks and we hope to continue to work with Evolution and PPMA to provide similar events in the future.”

The activity days are designed to engage pupils in challenges that demonstrate the interaction between Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths disciplines in real life and workplace scenarios.

Evolution supply, install and maintain technologically advanced machinery into food and drink manufacturers for the filling, labelling and packaging of their products.

The packaging sector relies heavily on technical talent not only in their engineering roles, but in all aspects of the business from sales and marketing to customer service.

Evolution marketing manager Susan Brown told us: “Our business depends heavily on various aspects of engineering – mechanical, electrical, electronic, design.

"There is a definite skills shortage in these areas and this creates a real opportunity for young people when considering future careers.

"We want to support our local young people understand the sorts of activities that depend on engineering and technical subjects and hopefully inspire some to pursue these in their future education – knowledge of technical and science subjects are a great asset to many careers.”