STEM News April 2024
STEMFEST ENGINEERING PROGRAMME
Bexley Grammar Students Win Big!
For six weeks this spring, a group of 30 Year 8 students were invited to take part in a new Engineering Programme called STEMFEST run by The Fest Hub. The aim of the programme is to bring together schools, engineers and the football community to inspire a new generation of engineers. Our school was paired with Charlton Athletic Football Club and an Engineering Firm called Ramboll Group, and we competed against two other schools from the London area.
Students worked with engineers and representatives from Charlton’s Community Outreach team over a number of weeks to learn about engineering and its role in football and also to design a new stadium. We then attended a grand final at the London Stadium where they pitched their ideas to a panel of industry experts, who then quizzed them on their designs. I was incredibly proud of how all the teams performed. Anyone would have found the presentations daunting, but they all rose to the challenge and really represented Bexley Grammar School brilliantly.
All the students were given a goodie bag and enjoyed the novelty of having a free lunch, which made us all feel very professional!
Overall, our teams did fantastically well, winning three out of the six prizes available (we didn’t actually enter two of them but who’s counting??)
Ms R Lusted, STEM Coordinator
The winners were:
Most Sustainable Design
Nibodh Shrestha, Jason Hammond, Victoria Lawani & Guin Homfray
Best Presentation
Radleigh Pompei, Adam Sulcas, Sid Pant & Josh Rehal
Strongest Bridge
Lilla Berglund, Florie Nalepa, Freya Savage, Hannah Keeling,
Katy Fletcher & Christopher Male
A student’s perspective
Stemfest was an amazing opportunity to learn more about the field of engineering, allowing us to learn more about a profession we may want to pursue in the future. They accomplished this by setting us the task of redesigning Charlton Athletic Football Club's, 'The Valley'. We then spent the next few sessions of STEMFEST learning about the roles of engineers in a team and working on our presentation for the redesign of The Valley stadium. We started the event by, in groups, building the strongest bridge possible with newspaper rolls and cable ties. Juice cartons filled with water were then placed onto the bridge to see how much load our bridges could hold. This depended on our design and how well our bridge dispersed the weight of the load. The winner of this bridge contest was a group from our school with a load of 43 cartons, each weighing 1.75kg to a total of 75.25kg, which broke their all-time record.
We then went to present our group presentation that we had been working on over our past few STEMFEST sessions to a board of professionals who assessed our stadium designs and presentation skills. After that, we were treated to a buffet of sandwiches. Then it was inspirational speeches delivered to us by special guests who, against all odds, became incredibly successful in the engineering industry, passing some of their immense knowledge onto the new generation of potential engineers. This was followed up by the award ceremony, which presented the well-deserved to students awards for best design, sustainability, and presentations, being awarded a trophy and a £30 Amazon gift card, and although I didn't win, I still had a very enjoyable experience. Throughout this experience, I have learnt greatly about the field of engineering, and it has developed my interest in engineering and increased my curiosity in science.
Elwood Battye, Year 8
Please click on the link here to view the STEMFEST Photo Gallery.
Five representatives from this year's Young Enterprise team, Illumina, competed against other school teams in the East London Finals of the Company Programme competition on Monday 22nd April. Students travelled to the BNY Mellon offices in London where they showcased their company. Students had already completed a detailed business report for the competition and needed to set up a trade stand to demonstrate and give information on their product - multisensory candles. The judges interviewed the five representatives at their stand where students explained their inspiration to improve mental health and how they came up with such a fantastic idea. They were then taken off to a separate interview room where judges more formally questioned them on the Company Programme process, their finances, experiences and next steps. After that, the team were greeted by other members of the team and parents who had travelled to London to show their support. Finally, the team needed to give a presentation to everyone at the event. They were the last to present but soon had the audience participating in finding hidden leaflets stuck to the bottom of their chairs to demonstrate the sheer number of people affected by a mental health problem. They did an excellent job of keeping their cool throughout the day. The most prestigious award - Best Company - was given to Illumina! The team were commended on their performance in all aspects of the competition and judges felt that this was a high-quality, professional product that could be a real success in the future.
On Saturday 20th April, the Chamber Choir performed at the inaugural Spring Song Choir Festival at Christchurch Bexleyheath, organised by ZigZag Performing Arts and Greenwich Academy for Music and Dance. Comprised of Year 12 and 13 students and led expertly by Mrs Casling, the Choir performed Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell, Glow by Eric Whitacre and Grace Kelly by Mika. Their performance was wonderful to watch, with smiles of enjoyment clearly visible throughout their performance. The audience were treated to a high quality performance, and the choir enjoyed performing alongside other local community choirs. Well done to members of the Chamber Choir - and good luck to our Year 13 members as you embark on study leave and exams!
