A South Lakeland man has become the 300th person to be recruited as part of a countywide initiative to bring science and engineering to life in the classroom.

Matthew Miller, a research and development engineer at specialist papermaker James Cropper plc of Burneside has linked up with The Queen Katherine School in Kendal to help students with a number of projects.

Mr Miller has joined the growing ranks of the science and engineering ambassadors programme, run by the county's Setpoint initiative.

The chartered mechanical engineer has helped Queen Katherine students taking part in Cyber Scraps, a Robot Wars-style competition, and talked to A level students about life working in industry and how it relates to their studies.

He also worked with QKS students on an initiative comparing the design of sophisticated inventions such as mobile phones with more simple technology' like the humble clothes peg.

Mr Miller said there was a broad spectrum of scientific jobs at James Cropper, from working in laboratories and analysing computer software models to checking the chemistry and operability of machinery.

By talking about his work to students, he said he had been able to fill a gap in many young people's understanding of what industry was all about. "They understand that people invent something and buy something in a shop, but the process in between is a mystery."

He had gained a "huge amount of satisfaction" from working with young people, and was impressed at the inventive ideas they had come up with.

"I have had 15 years of engineering education and have been trained to think in a certain way. They the students can have a completely fresh point of view that can be enlightening. It works both ways and I get a lot from it as an individual," said Mr Miller.

Recommending others to join the ambassador programme, he said: "The only way to do it is to show real enthusiasm for your job."

Mr Miller is one of a number of staff at James Cropper to have forged links with Queen Katherine School.

Steve Crook, finishing operations manager for James Cropper Speciality Papers, sits on the school's governing body and is a member of the marketing and community committees as well as the link governor for the design and technology department. Other examples include: l A health and safety manager from the papermaker carried out a health and safety review of the school.

l QKS A level students visited James Cropper as part of their design and technology course work.

l A QKS teacher compiled a case study based on the company for a GCSE business studies course.

Mr Crook said as a local employer, the company was keen to put something back into the community, and there were two-way benefits from working together.

Raising James Cropper's profile in school also meant future school leavers would be aware of the potential job opportunities at the company, which has a 500-strong workforce and is keen to recruit locally wherever possible.

Head teacher Stephen Wilkinson said the school already had long-standing links with the Burneside papermaker, but Queen Katherine was reaping the benefits from appointing Mr Crook as a sponsor governor a new category of governor created following a change of governance in schools. He had brought his manufacturing expertise to bear on the school with "enormous vigour" and the benefits were evident across departments, including design and technology and business studies, said Mr Wilkinson.

Mr Crook was an "incredibly committed" member of Cropper's staff who was developing "an amazing understanding" of the school, which helped him to develop further links between the company and Queen Katherine, he added.