Ellesmere College Lower School Wins Regional STEM Day

Ellesmere College Lower School played host to the IET Regional Heats of the 2019 STEM Faraday Challenge and it really was out of this world!

With a total of six teams taking part in the challenge from local Shropshire schools, the race was on to find the next engineer to work on the James Webb Space Telescope programme with the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).

Each of the teams from Yr 8 were given a brief in the form of a letter from Major Tim Peake, Astronaut, to assist in one part of the process of the research, building, and deployment of the James Webb Space Telescope into space.

The team had to decide on which area of the project they wanted to work, and then design and build a working model and present to the panel for judging.

The winners - Team 5 from Ellesmere - focused their effort on a clean-air automatic sensor door entry system to eliminate dust and other particles entering the telescope construction area and potentially damaging the delicate parts of the telescope.

The winning team were presented with their trophy by Keira Sewell, Faraday Challenge Leader, and each took home an Amazon voucher for themselves as well as gaining a place on the league table.

The top five teams at the end of the season will go forward into the National Final in July 2019 where they will be treated to an all-expenses-paid trip to Edinburgh as well as being in with the chance of taking home £1,000 for their school to spend on STEM activities.

Head of Physics, Amy Darrant, explained, 'The Faraday Challenge focuses on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills. This year the task was really exciting as the students were working with a space related topic and the opportunity to go to Edinburgh for the finals.'

Participating in the School's winning team were: Jonny Lewers, Jack Arrowsmith, Emily Curzon, India Freer-Carmichael, Ellie Huntbach and Natasha Moore.

Amy Darrant added, 'I was so impressed with the independence that the students showed. The work is completely their own and there was no teacher input at all. We are delighted to be through to the finals and excited to see what more our gifted and talented students can produce'.

For more information on the STEM / IET Programmes please visit: IET Faraday Challenge

11th February 2019  Back to News