Felsted Prep School pupils, Ruby Rose and Isabelle Soper have been crowned the Junior Runner’s Up in the The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition.  

The Big Bang fair is the largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) for young people in the UK. The Fair is an award-winning combination of exciting stage shows, interactive workshops and exhibits, and careers information from STEM professionals.  

Part of the fair is the UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition, which aims to recognise and reward young people’s achievements in STEM subjects by encouraging entrants to submit their own research-based investigative project. 

Over 32,000 BA Crest projects are completed every year. From these, the best are selected to compete at a Regional level, for selection in the National Finals.

Ruby and Isabelle were awarded the title of ‘The Best BA Crest Project’ for their project ‘Perfect Pitch’ at the Regional Heat of the Big Bang Eastern Fair in 2017. The aim of their project was to understand more about the ability of children to learn perfect pitch. The girl’s research suggests it is possible to learn to significantly improve the pitch of your voice, but this improved ability is lost after a month without practice.

Following their regional win, the girls were invited to represent the Eastern Region at the National Finals in Birmingham along with another 200 shortlisted projects from across the UK, where they presented their investigations and findings to a panel of expert judges. After three days of intensive work and presenting, the entrants attended an Awards Ceremony, where Isabelle and Ruby were thrilled to be announced as National Science Runner’s Up in their Junior Category. 

This has been a fascinating topic to research, as we are both so interested in science and music. As well as developing our academic understanding of the topic, we have improved our presentation skills, as well as having the opportunity to act as ambassadors for our project; networking and interacting with adult specialists in the field and with our peers. The project has increased our confidence and made us realise that, with hard work, aspiration and determination, there are many opportunities out there in the world of science to be explored.

Felsted was named as a Top 3 Science School by the Times Educational Supplement in 2014, with children achieving many top awards each year, including reaching the Big Bang Science and Engineering National Finals for the past six years in a row. Click here to find out more.