Pupils win thousands at science competition
PUPILS at a Porthcawl school have won £2,500 in a national science competition.
A team of students from St Clare’s School won the prize with their idea of using hot waste water to create renewable energy.
The four year nine pupils fought off competition from hundreds of schools across the UK to become one of five finalist teams in Shell’s annual national school science competition, The Bright Ideas Challenge.
Janynee, Susmita, Dylan and Izzabel who together made up ‘ Team SOS (Straight Outta Science)’ recognised the huge energy potential in hot waste water from baths, showers and cleaning dishes.
The team came with an idea of pipes made from heat preserving iron and copper running from offices, hotels, restaurants and residential properties.
The pipes would capture the wasted heat energy from still hot waste water and convert it into useful voltage that would create a renewable energy source to power the same buildings from which the water came from.
The competition finalists won £2,500 for STEM education at their school and were invited to an exclusive prototyping session at Imperial College London with Countdown star and Bright Ideas Challenge Ambassador Rachel Riley, where there idea was turned into a 3D model.
The team from St Clares’ School said: “Seeing our ideas come to life today has been amazing. It’s hard to believe that our 3D model will now take centre stage alongside energy ideas developed by world leading scientists at Make the Future Live.
“It’s been really in- teresting to see how the skills we learn in science and maths can make our world better.
“The whole school is excited about us becoming finalists and abut the new equipment our prize money will buy for our science block.”
The national winner will be announced at Make the Future Live on Friday July 6 with the winners being awarded an additional cash prize of £2,500 to bring their total prize to £5,000.