As part of the Brooke Weston Academy STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) initiatives to raise the profile of STEM in the academy, KS3 and KS4 students took part in STEMfest 2023.

Students worked on their own or as part of a team, producing a display board and delivering a PowerPoint presentation to guest judges to showcase their findings on a STEM topic they had chosen and conducted research on. There were twenty-four different topics being pitched during the festival and students were judged on the quality of their research, presentation, quality of answers and STEM awareness; how they linked their project to a STEM topic.

The judging panel consisted of Brooke Weston Academy Governors Alan Othen and Liz Tulum as well as the Trust Director of Science, Karen Hearne and Lead teacher of Biology Dan Hawksley. There were also ‘roaming’ judges who included BWA Principal Shaun Strydom; Head of Science, Adam Tan and James Slater and Lisa Thomson from Laser 2000, who kindly sponsored the event.

The Year 7 and 8 category winner and overall winner of STEMfest was Year 7 Aaron Angell who presented his findings on ‘How Studying DNA Can Help Humanity.’

Aaron said, ‘I was really surprised when I found out I had won, I wasn’t expecting it as I thought there were a lot of strong candidates at the festival with some very interesting ideas. I really enjoyed taking part and will definitely be taking part again next year.’

The Year 9 and 10 category was won by Year 9 teammates Nojus Bankauskas, Branden Barclay-Pywell and Noah Rodgers with ‘How to Make a Dyson Sphere’

The winning students received STEM badges, certificates and Amazon vouchers. Well done to all the students who took part in this year’s STEMfest.

Head of Science Adam Tan, who organised the event said, ‘It was a great success and the students worked extremely hard conducting research for their STEM topic and creating amazing displays to showcase their findings. Everyone commented on how eloquent the students were during their presentations and I would like to thank all the judges who volunteered their time to help judge our inaugural STEM Festival at BWA, this event would not have been possible without their support.’

See a selection of photos from STEMfest here