PUBLISHED 02 July 2024
Recently our Science and D&T departments collaborated at Cumbria University campus in Lancaster for the NW STEM competition, hosted by MCS Projects. This annual event sees schools applying to compete against others with pupil volunteers aged Year 8-9 skilled within STEM areas.
At AKS our pupils were invited to apply to compete and all were asked to forward a letter of application to Heads of Departments, Mr Downey and Ms Burke. Our teachers were pleased with the high calibre of pupil applications and particularly delighted with an increased interest from our female pupils. 12 students were selected and attended the full day event with Ms Burke and Mr Riding, where they competed together in teams made up of two AKS pupils and two from other schools.
This really tested our pupil team work and problem solving skills, allowing them to experience personal skills attributed to real life work scenarios. It was lovely to see former AKS S.T.EM student Ben at Cumbria Uni, supporting the event, as he embarks upon his own future teacher training & we wish him every success.
The day was an exciting event with three competitive heats.
We were overall runners up in the Vehicle Navigating and Junior Doctor heats, and winners of the Robotics challenge, thanks to Kathryn and Amritha. We are even more delighted to announce our pupils' overall innovation and tenacity saw Connie and Isla achieve overall winner status!
We look forward to the grand final in January 2024 and thank all pupils for their remarkable efforts within a very successful day, promoting STEM career pathways.