Four Felsted Prep School girls aged 11 and 12 are aiming to tackle the growing problem of plastic pollution in the oceans, with a prize-winning project. Freya Perry, Grace Boroughs, Ava Readman and Anna White’s project, ‘the sanitary shark’ has been shortlisted as a National Finalist in the Talent 2030 Engineering competition.
 

The sanitary shark focuses on removing waste products from the sea, where it is designed to float on water, with a motor allowing it to swim, solar panels to power it, a net to collect waste and a buzzer to keep fish from swimming too near and getting caught up.

The girls’ project led them to research more into sanitary products specifically. They discovered that in some cases, a single sanitary towel contains the same amount of plastic as four plastic bags, and the average woman is estimated to use, and throw away, in excess of 10,000 sanitary products in her menstrual lifetime. This research introduced them to the plastic-free sanitary company Grace and Green, who they made contact with about their interest in this matter. Grace and Green sent the girls an encouraging reply and are keen to support their project further.  

The girls now join Year 8 Felsted pupils Shesh Abu-Jabir and Hamish Baumber presenting their project at the National Big Bang fair in Birmingham after the boys won the Regional Biology Prize last year for their project ‘The Pro-Hand Way’ which uses 3D printing to create a prosthetic hand.

Mrs Christina Bury, Director of Learning and Teacher of Science at Felsted Prep comments;

"These pupils have really challenged themselves through these thought provoking, real world STEM projects. Their passion, energy and enthusiasm to make a difference is inspiring."

Felsted is committed to engaging pupils with STEM subjects and the Prep School currently hold a Gold Quality Mark for Science. Felsted pupils have reached the Big Bang National Finals for seven years, winning many National awards for their entries.