We are delighted that a group of our Year 8 students have won the GDST’s Women in Engineering Challenge. 

Back in June Year 8 students, working in groups of 5-6, were set a task to design and prototype a device to successfully move a meteorite, that had fallen to Earth and landed in the school field, from its landing site and into a box so that it can be safely transported for testing. 

They had to take into consideration the box was 2m from the landing site and, due to the meteorite being radioactive, they could not get closer than 1m to the meteorite at any time. 

The students set to work rapidly, carefully considered crucial points such as how their team would "pick-up" the meteorite, how well their design solution would carry and transfer the meteorite, and what materials to use, with sustainability being one of the key factors to consider. 

From all the entries across the GDST, three schools made it to the shortlist to receive feedback from three female engineers, who then chose one of our RHB teams as the ultimate winner.  The engineers were impressed with the students’ teamwork, ingenuity, and use of innovative mechanisms in their varied solutions.

Hannah Harrison-Hughes, Trust Consultant Teacher for STEM, visited Royal High recently and presented an award to Emma (now in Year 9), part of the winning team.