Recent STEM Events - Suffolk Education Business Partnership

Welcome to the Recent STEM Events page

This page give you information about recent STEM-related events that our Suffolk STEM Ambassadors have assisted with and any feedback that we have received.

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* Mad Green Scienctist Project - June 2012. Winner: Combs Middle School

Mad Green Scientists’ is a project to help young people understand the importance and challenges to sustainable living, while competing for £500 prize money for their schools.

The idea of Paulin Goonan, civil engineer and director of the John Peel Centre for Creative Arts in Stowmarket, the project brought together the Institute of Civil Engineers, the EBP, local businesses, STEM Ambassadors and 50 students from Combs Middle and Stowmarket Middle schools.

Working with materials donated by local businesses under the guidance of John Taylor from the Suffolk Climate Change Partnership and STEM Ambassadors, students built their own solar panels that were installed in their schools in February and monitored for their efficiency in heating water. The young scientists returned in June to present their findings to parents, teachers and volunteers at the Centre.

The winner was Combs Middle School, whose design using guttering lined with aluminium foil to focus the sunlight on the tubes is an example of the ingenuity students can show using good science and a little madness. Director Tom Barker said: “the students were absolutely brilliant…this project has certainly ignited a spark of creativity in these pupils”. Each pupil was given a certificate signed by John Peel’s wife Sheila Ravenscroft.

Combs Middle School reporter Megan Thomas, Year 8, said: “We all did fantastic but there could only be one winner…We were all so happy and proud of each other, so now most of us are working on our British Science Association CREST award. We all have enjoyed it and I know I have!

STEM Ambassador Dayle Bayliss, who is a chartered building surveyor, has since been working with Combs Middle School on a K’Nex challenge to make Paralympic buggies in record time, and recently spent a day judging the Year 8 students CREST Awards for projects linked to their work on solar panels.

Teacher Sheila Roberts said: “Dayle was brilliant, very positive and great with the children. Thanks to the EBP for giving us the idea and getting the ball rolling.”

Mad Green Scientists’ is a project to help young people understand the importance and challenges to sustainable living, while competing for £500 prize money for their schools.

This was the idea of Paulin Goonan, civil engineer and director of the John Peel Centre for Creative Arts in Stowmarket and 50 students from Combs Middle and Stowmarket Middle schools took part by working with materials donated by local businesses under the guidance of John Taylor from the Suffolk Climate Change Partnership and with the help of STEM Ambassadors. The students built their own solar panels that were installed in their schools in February and monitored for their efficiency in heating water. The young scientists returned in June to present their findings to parents, teachers and volunteers at the Centre.

Both schools were brilliant, but the overall winner was Combs Middle School, whose design using guttering lined with aluminium foil to focus the sunlight on the tubes is an example of the ingenuity students can show using good science and a little madness.

Director Tom Barker said: “the students were absolutely brilliant…this project has certainly ignited a spark of creativity in these pupils”. Each pupil was given a certificate signed by John Peel’s wife Sheila Ravenscroft.

Combs Middle School reporter, Year 8, said: “We all did fantastic but there could only be one winner…We were all so happy and proud of each other, so now most of us are working on our British Science Association CREST award. We all have enjoyed it and I know I have!"

STEM Ambassador Dayle Bayliss, who is a chartered building surveyor, has since been working with Combs Middle School on a K’Nex challenge to make Paralympic buggies in record time, and recently spent a day judging the Year 8 students CREST Awards for projects linked to their work on solar panels.

Teacher Sheila Roberts said: “Dayle was brilliant, very positive and great with the children. Thanks to the EBP for giving us the idea and getting the ball rolling.”

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* Suffok Climate Change

The winners of last year’s exhibition were a group of year 9 students from Hartismere High School in Eye who created an interactive educational installation called ‘Global Warning! Life in Balance’.

They won themselves an environmental art workshop at the spectacular First Site Arts Centre in Colchester, taken by Ipswich artist Jevan Watkins Jones.

Their winning entry has since become an educational resource tool used by the Suffolk Climate Change Partnership at public events around the county.

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* Chantry High School, Suffolk - STEM Challenge 7 WINNERS - October 2011

STEM Challenge 7 (supported by BT) was for students from across the UK to work in teams to design a smartphone App for London 2012 Everyone's Games that can be used by visitors at the Olympics, and 10 Suffolk schools took up the challenge!

Following regional competitions, eight schools from acrss the UK reached the national final at the Natural History Museum. Each team of students competed in a Dragon’s Den style pitch before a panel of expert judges.

Chantry High School were the winners with their Torch Stalker App. Congratulations to all involved!

Chantry High School has won the most recent STEM Challenge! The competition asked students from across the UK to work in teams to design a smartphone app which can be used by visitors at London 2012.

STEM Challenge 7, supported by BT- the Official Communications Services partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games - asked students to help make London 2012 Everyone’s Games by designing an app that provides useful information, communicated and accessed in the best way possible in order to contribute to a great Games experience for all.

Following regional competitions, eight schools from across the UK reached the national final at the Natural History Museum on Thursday 20th October. Each team of students competed in a Dragon’s Den style pitch before a panel of expert judges.

The winning design, presented by Charlotte Humphreys, Daisy Roger-Simmonds and Georgia Ollivander of Chantry High School, was commended for its professional finish and in-depth technical knowledge. The team won £1,000 worth of equipment for their STEM Club and an experience prize awarded by BT.

The judges were looking for a creative, innovative idea which also applied the Olympic and Paralympic Values to the project, as well as a display of excellent teamwork and the development of inspirational ideas.

The girls introduced their app named Torch Stalker as the ultimate app to give you the complete Olympic experience. You can not only see where the torch is but also get LIVE footage, interviews and information on the town where the torch is.

The girls are a credit to the school and all staff and students of Chantry High are proud of them.

The girls introduced their app as the ultimate app to give you the complete Olympic experience. You can not only see where the torch is but also get LIVE footage, interviews and information on the town where the torch is.
The girls are a credit to the school and all staff and students of Chantry High are proud of them.

The winning design was commended for its professional finish and in-depth technical knowledge. The team won £1,000 worth of equipment for their STEM Club and an experience prize awarded by BT.

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