ENGINEERING students at the College of West Anglia have built a seven-foot tall ‘Iron Giant’ from scrap metal.

The Isle campus students worked from designs drawn up by Kestrel One pupils at Meadowgate School, in Wisbech.

The gigantic figure - inspired by Ted Hughes’ children’s book ‘The Iron Man’ - has been put up on the Meadowgate campus. It features dustbins for a body with a head made up of a bicycle wheel, springs and clutches.

Loreena Gomm, a teacher at Meadowgate, said: “My class had been reading the story of the Iron Giant in a literacy session. To start with, they each made their own individual figure to take home.”

Tony Williams, the college’s engineering programme manager, said: “It was Meadowgate’s idea and they asked us to help. Their initial plan was to create individual figures. I showed the teacher how to make a figure and welded it up.

“The project grew into the making of an additional full-size iron figure out of whatever scrap metal and waste material they could find.”

Second year Practical Learning Opportunities students helped to weld the figure under the supervision of Isle engineering tutor Mick Caveney.

Miss Gomm added: “It’s been really good and exciting for them and it has been an overwhelming opportunity for our pupils.

“They never expected to be involved in something like welding or metalwork – it’s not the norm for a special needs school.

“We have ordered the DVD of The Iron Giant and we will invite the college students to watch it with us.”

The school thanked Perkins Engineering of Peterborough and Wisbech recycling centre in Algores Way for providing the majority of the scrap material.