Felsted STEM Competition

Felsted School has announced the winners of the Felsted STEM Competition 2021, inspiring children to find ‘practical solutions to pandemic problems’.
The aim of this exciting STEM challenge was to encourage children to think outside the box and to get creative in helping solve issues resulting from the current pandemic, using science, technology, engineering or mathematical techniques.
 
There were a total of 65 entries from across the region and the standard was so high that five overall winners and a number of runner-ups were selected for the different age categories. Entries were received from Alleyn Court Prep, Dulwich Prep, Felsted Prep, Widford Lodge, Bishop’s Stortford College, King’s College, Loyola Prep, St Margaret’s Gosfield, Swanbourne House, The Daiglen Prep, Woodland School Hutton Manor and Felsted Senior School.  

The winners were Ava P (Key Stage 1), Kamil A (Key Stage 2), Nikhil S, Hector L and Thomas R (Key Stage 3).
 
Ava identified job loss as a major issue resulting from the pandemic. She designed her own ATM which would dispense money to those most in need. Kamil identified social distancing amongst children to be an issue and has designed a social distancing monitor which cleverly informs wearers if they go within 2 and 1 metre of each other. Kamil designed and built his invention with a flashing light and buzzer.
 
Nikhil identified the problem of distributing the Covid vaccine to remote areas and less developed countries. He designed a drone that would deliver and administer the vaccine through aerosol, using cameras and sensors to identify human height and distance to stand. Hector designed ‘The Covid Slayer App’ which detects the presence of the Covid-19 virus on any surface, material or person and destroys it with an integrated heat source.

Photo: Nikhil’s drone (left) and Kamil’s social distancing monitor (right) 
 
Thomas R designed a hands-free coronavirus checkpoint called the Disease and Infection Prevention machine (DIP). It is designed to be placed at the entrances to large public venues to regulate, monitor and help prevent the spread of Covid-19 and other infectious diseases through the use of data whilst simultaneously aiding immediate and practical infection prevention measures. 

Read more about their entries and see examples of their work below.
 
Dulwich Prep and Alleyn Court Prep School also received prizes for the quality and quantity of their entries and were awarded £150 for their Science departments. 

Head of Science at Felsted Prep, Christina Bury comments; “We received an exceptional range of entries showing such creativity, innovation and problem-solving. We look forward to making this an annual event to inspire our future young scientists.”

Christina Bury, Director of Learning at Felsted Prep

Felsted is committed to confronting the UK's STEM skill gap head on. From the youngest years they inspire their pupils to explore and discover a love of science, technology, engineering and maths. Specialist teachers encourage pupils to extend their learning by entering national competitions, where numerous national awards have been achieved over many years.

Felsted Prep School holds a Primary Gold Quality Mark for Science and the Senior School is a Silver Science STEM Award holder. They also work closely with the local community and are a ‘Rolls-Royce Special Merit Award Winner', in recognition of the quality of ideas and action plans to develop local partnerships through Science.

Felsted offers academic scholarships from Year 7 and a specialist Science Scholarship at Year 12 entry for those students showing excellence in their science studies.