We are proud to announce that Magdalena (Year 12) and Eva (Year 9) have won 1^st and 2^nd places, respectively, at the GDST STEM writing competition hosted on 12^th March.

The UK-wide #700STEMChallenge was masterminded and organised by a Year 12 student from Sydenham High School. Designed as a writing competition to encourage students’ passion for all things STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), the challenge was to write a 700-word article on a STEM subject demonstrating good style, plenty of creativity and strong content. With over 250 entries, 38 finalists were chosen from 9 different schools across the UK and the judges were delighted with the exceptional levels of knowledge from the entrants.

Magdalena with the winning entry for the Under 18s Science category discussed ‘What are and how do black holes arise?’ Magdalenda said, “What I really liked about the STEM competition was that we were able to share our thoughts and knowledge with others. It’s a great to see that we are one big community, maybe with different interests, nationalities and ages, but we all have something that connects us all together.”

Meanwhile, Eva’s piece on ‘What direction is progress taking us in?’ took second place in the Under 16s Technology and Engineering category. Eva said, “‘The competition was open and it gave you the opportunity to touch on a variety of aspects, I think this was what intrigued me because I was able to go deeper into Technology while putting my own spin on what I was looking into. It piqued my interests and made me push boundaries by adding more thought to my ideas. During the research process I learned facts I don’t think I would have reflected on before, like how our usage of video and music data is emitting a lot more carbon into the air than what we would expect. It was lots of fun and definitely worth it.”

With such a focus in the media recently on the impact of gender stereotypes in maths and science careers at senior school with these subjects being perceived as ‘male domains’, we are thrilled to see budding STEM enthusiasts thrive at our school and strive to make their mark on the world.

Kate Williams, Head of Physics, commented, “The #700STEMChallenge Competition is a fantastic opportunity for our students to explore their passion for STEM further, and I was thrilled to hear that two of our students were prize winners this year.”

All of the articles will be published in a journal later in the year.

The judges were Captain Al Bridger, Chief Pilot Boeing fleet, British Airways, Matthew Gardner, Engineer at British Airways, Rachel Thomas, Writer and editor, specialising in mathematics and science communication, Carrie Bennett, a 22 year old Audit Senior and Chartered Accountant at Ernst & Young, Jade Garner, a 19 year old Business Apprentice, Ernst & Young.