24 March 2022
Woldingham’s inaugural STEM Solutions event saw Sixth Formers from five leading local schools and Woldingham pitting their STEM knowledge and ideas against each other in a fantastic competition fizzing with ideas and enthusiasm.
‘We were delighted to welcome Sixth Form scientists from Warlingham, Caterham, Sevenoaks, Whitgift and Old Palace to Woldingham on 23 March for our first STEM Challenge. After a series of challenging question rounds and a construction challenge, each team of four presented ideas to reduce their school’s environmental footprint to experts from the University of Surrey with an investment of £100,000. It was fascinating to see the enthusiasm and creative approaches. I was particularly delighted that our Woldingham team of Léonie, Tona, Annabel and Jahnvi (main photo) took the innovative approach of not spending any of its £100,000 in coming up with a brilliant range of things we can do to become more environmentally sustainable at school. I hope we’ll be able to implement some of their ideas as we seek to improve our impact on the environment here at Woldingham,’ said Head of Science Mr Paul Rickard, the instigator of STEM Solutions.
The young scientists and enthusiastic audience in the Mill Centre auditorium also very much enjoyed the fascinating lecture by Dr Noelia E. D. Noël from the University of Surrey on astrophysics and whether or not there is life out there.
Many congratulations to all the students who took part and especially to Sevenoaks for taking first place, Woldingham second place and Warlingham third place.
‘Thank you to all the students who took part and to our expert judges from the University of Surrey. With 30% of last year’s Upper Sixth students leaving to study STEM at university, we know science at Woldingham is already very strong. I hope this will be the first of many more events and initiatives that encourage more young women and men to embark on an exciting career in science,’ added Mr Rickard.
