Academic Enrichment & STEM Mentoring for Schools
Lucas Rey · Oxford DPhil · Cambridge MRes · Aerothermal Engineer
Inspiring, rigorous STEM enrichment, engineering problem-solving workshops, and UK university admissions briefings for international schools, sixth forms, and IB world schools.
Not sure where to start? 4 places to go
Start with your question
Why visitors arrive: You are a teacher, head of sixth form, or school counsellor looking for STEM enrichment, engineering masterclasses, or admissions briefings.
Your question: What workshops and talks does Lucas Rey deliver for schools?
You may also be asking
- Can I get a full ESAT mock paper for my cohort to sit?
- What topics are covered in the 'Thinking Like an Engineer' masterclass?
- Can sessions be delivered virtually or in-person?
- How can students access open curriculum resources?
Where to go next
- Free ESAT Mock Papers, Complete Pack: What exists by way of ESAT past papers, and a full five-module mock with worked solutions to sit instead
- Fluid Mechanics Curriculum: Open university-level STEM modules
- ESAT Solutions Hub: Admissions test preparation resources
- Enquire for Your School: Arrange a workshop or webinar
- Audience: International schools, IB World Schools, British Curriculum sixth forms, and STEM student societies (Years 10 to 13 / Grades 9 to 12).
- Mock Paper Packs: Full ESAT mock papers for a whole cohort, delivered as print-ready PDFs with worked solutions and mark schemes. A free sample pack holds 10 of the 27 questions in every module, with the worked solutions, mark schemes and a syllabus reference in full; unseen packs written for a single school are a paid commission. The free question sets elsewhere on the site are published for individual candidates and are not licensed for class use, so a cohort takes a pack.
- Delivery Formats: 45-minute virtual enrichment masterclasses, half-day intensive problem-solving clinics, evening parent webinars, and teacher/counsellor briefings.
- Speaker & Facilitator: Lucas Rey, Oxford DPhil researcher (Rolls-Royce sponsored), Cambridge MRes (Whittle Laboratory), university lecturer, and admissions test specialist.
- Open Resources for Students: Free access to the Fluid Mechanics Curriculum, Engineering Calculators, and ESAT Solutions Hub.
Flagship Workshop Outlines
Two workshop outlines, and the three parts of each
Designed to complement your science and mathematics curriculum with authentic engineering thinking and competitive admissions insights:
Workshop 1: "Thinking Like an Engineer" Masterclass
Ages 15 to 18 · IB / A-LevelAn interactive 45 to 60 minute masterclass introducing students to first-principles quantitative reasoning and the problem-solving mindset tested in Cambridge and Oxford technical interviews.
- Part 1: Dimensional Analysis & Scaling: How to check equations, discover physical relationships, and deduce why animals and machines scale non-linearly.
- Part 2: Fermi Order-of-Magnitude Estimation: Tackling seemingly impossible questions by making reasonable physical assumptions (e.g. estimating power outputs or thermal loads).
- Part 3: From Classroom to Research: How textbook fluid mechanics and thermodynamics directly power engine-scale turbine research at the Oxford Thermofluids Institute.
Workshop 2: "Mastering the ESAT & Admissions Tests"
Years 12 to 13 · IB1 & IB2A tactical strategy session on the Engineering & Science Admissions Test (ESAT), now used by Cambridge, Imperial and Oxford alike, and on the TMUA for mathematics-heavy courses.
- Format & Timing Breakdown: Managing the high-speed 80-seconds-per-question pace of modular multiple-choice testing.
- Distractor Trap Analysis: Spotting and eliminating common algebraic and conceptual traps built into test options.
- Personal Error Logging: Teaching students how to categorise and systematically eliminate their own problem-solving weaknesses.
Engagement Formats: Free Enrichment vs. Departmental Packages
Option A and Option B side by side, with what each one includes
Option A · Complimentary
Virtual Enrichment Masterclass
A free 45-minute virtual presentation delivered via Zoom or Teams for school science societies, whole year groups, or Sixth Form lecture series.
- Interactive presentation and live problem solving
- Live student Q&A on engineering careers & admissions
- Full access to open-source learning tools for students
Option B · Tailored Departmental Package
Intensive Clinics & Seminars
Comprehensive half-day in-person workshops, multi-week admissions test bootcamps, or evening parent/student webinars.
- Dedicated hands-on problem sets with marking
- Full mock admissions test analysis and individual scoring
- Faculty consultation on supercurricular STEM pathways
ESAT Mock Paper Packs for Your Cohort
What is in a pack, the published option and the commissioned option, and the one limit of a printed mock
Separate from the workshops above: complete ESAT mock papers, written to the current specification and delivered as print-ready PDFs, so a whole year group can sit one under timed conditions and be marked in the room the same afternoon. Each pack is five module papers, Mathematics 1, Mathematics 2, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, with worked solutions, mark schemes, answer sheets, a syllabus reference and a coverage report.
Option A · Published, free
The Free Sample Pack
A sample of a pack, published on this site with nothing to register for and nothing to sign. It is the same set of documents a school receives when it commissions one, so you can judge the standard before asking about a pack of your own.
- All five modules, the first 10 of the 27 questions in each
- A worked solution for every question, with the named error behind each wrong option
- Usable as a teaching session afterwards, not only as a score
Option B · Commissioned, chargeable
An Unseen Pack for Your School
The pack above is published, so a candidate preparing seriously may already have worked through it. A commissioned pack is drawn from a bank, recorded against your school, never issued to another school and never published here. That is what makes it unseen, and it is why only one pack is ever given away.
- Built to the same standard, in your school's name and dated to your sitting
- All five modules, or only the ones your candidates sit
- Quoted per cohort: tell me roughly how many would sit it and by when
Both are built against the official material rather than against an impression of it: stem length, the number of worked steps and the share of questions carrying a figure are measured from the ENGAA and NSAA papers UAT-UK points candidates at, and every question is independently re-derived before it ships. One limit, stated rather than buried: these are printed papers and the real ESAT is sat on screen at a Pearson VUE centre, so a printed mock trains the mathematics and the pacing but not the interface.
Safeguarding, Boundaries & Teacher Collaboration
Three commitments, on supporting staff, admissions ethics and online safety
I work in active partnership with school leadership, science teachers, and university guidance counsellors:
- Supporting Existing Staff: Sessions are designed to reinforce, enrich, and validate your school's curriculum, never to contradict or override teacher guidance.
- Ethical Admissions Guidance: Strict adherence to university guidelines; we focus on genuine academic capability and problem-solving, never formulaic shortcuts.
- Child Protection & Online Safety: All virtual sessions are hosted on school-approved platforms with school staff presence welcomed and encouraged.
Schools We Work With
When sessions run, how a school is named on this page, and asking for a reference
Workshops run with sixth forms and physics departments at UK independent and international schools. Sessions are booked through the autumn term for Upper Sixth candidates sitting the ESAT in October, with Lower Sixth sessions following in the spring, when there is a full year of runway to build the underlying problem-solving habits rather than to revise under time pressure.
Individual schools are named on this page only where the school has given written permission, in wording it has approved, and any school may ask to be removed at any time without discussion. A listing records that a session took place. It is not an endorsement of any commercial service, and no school is ever charged for a workshop.
Heads of department considering a session are welcome to ask for a reference from a school where one has already run, or to sit in on the session themselves. Staff presence is encouraged rather than merely permitted.
Arrange a Session for Your School
I collaborate with British and International Baccalaureate schools across Europe, the UK, the Middle East, and Asia. Get in touch to check term availability.
Part of
This page sits within the broader knowledge structure on lucasrey.com:
- Teaching - Engineering-informed teaching, mentoring, and quantitative reasoning.
Connected work
Related content from the same research and engineering work:
- Teaching hub
- ESAT worked solutions
- For Educational Consultants
- Fluid mechanics curriculum
- For schools - Referenced from engineering-a-level-choices
- For International Schools - Referenced from roadmap
- For International Schools - Referenced from enquire
Using this with a class
Two things this site is for, if you teach the candidates rather than sit the test.
- Free sample pack for schools - Ten questions in every module with mark schemes and a syllabus reference, ready to sit as a timed mock
- Commission an unseen paper for your cohort - Written for your candidates and used nowhere else, so nobody has seen it before the day
- Enquire about one-to-one preparation - For candidates who want the gap closed rather than mapped. Places are limited and taken by application
The sample pack is free to use with a class. A commissioned paper is written for your candidates alone, and its questions are retired from this site.