PUBLISHED 28 November 2024
We are delighted to announce that AKS Lytham has won a prestigious award recognising teaching and learning, innovation and commitment to sustainability.
Teams from across our school have contributed to a project and have been named the winner of the Rolls-Royce Eden Award, awarded for our S.T.E.M efforts within a national competition (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
Rolls-Royce recognises how teachers play a hugely influential role in inspiring the next generation, which is why they developed their Schools Prize for Science and Technology in 2004.
The Eden Award is given to a school which demonstrates how they have worked effectively within the local and wider community, to develop sustainable solutions to real world challenges. Last year, our Design and Technology (D&T) department entered the Rolls-Royce competition whilst investigating the prospect of making our own alternative solution to manufactured board.
Keen on recycling, D&T experimented using sawdust waste from some of our industrial machines and earned a Special Merit Award initial funding to enable D&T to push their recycling mission forward.
We managed to generate a suitable composition for our inhouse made material which could be easily duplicated. We then moved to enlisting pupils to participate in our wider competition project tasks.
Constructing The Future
Our project title hints at the innovation behind such endeavour, but our success would have been impossible without the contribution of others within our school community.
Our fantastic pupil volunteers, some from year 7 (who arrived in 2023) through to sixth formers, have been busy working to support more environmentally friendly manufacturing solutions. We have been able to make small products using our AKS made material, creating our own factory experience, exploring costing, carrying out marketing and even hosted a charity pop-up shop in support of The Sparkle Foundation (a charity which helps people in need, live a more sustainable and independent life).
Reaching the competition final, saw us receive a £6,000 reward to further our project. We purchased new paper recycling equipment, planted Bamboo and Willow trees in our newly renovated community garden, purchased gardening equipment, enhanced curriculum, but most importantly, we obtained lots of pupil trophies, to recognise individual endeavour and commitment to our competition efforts. These were awarded in whole school assembly this week by project staff, and it was great to see lots of happy faces!
Alongside pupil efforts, numerous staff have also contributed from Science, Mathematics, Careers and Marketing team. Every effort each person has made to contribute to this project, big or small, was a piece in a large jigsaw and we are grateful for this cross-curricular team effort.
The importance of S.T.E.M industry links in education permits our students to make early workplace connections and sample the value of practical learning. Please take a look at some of our team photos collected over the past two years.
The Eden Award was presented to our staff at a ceremony at Rolls-Royce in Derby by Sir Tim Smit KBE, Co-founder of the award-winning Eden Project. The project afforded a grand total of £8,500 earned, alongside much practical learning.
Mr Sall, Rolls-Royce E2E Programme Integration Lead, said: “It was a pleasure to support and be part of the AKS Lytham Rolls-Royce Science Prize submission. It is clear the school is very passionate about S.T.E.M, sustainability and the future of its pupils. The whole team did a great job and it was wonderful to see the enthusiasm from them all. The Eden award was well earned and couldn’t have gone to a more deserving school.”
Mr Burr, Rolls-Royce Group Director of Engineering, Technology & Safety said: Our interest is in helping the largest possible number of pupils to be aware of S.T.E.M subjects and careers so they can make better informed choices in their studies. The UK still has a low percentage of women in engineering and pupils from more deprived backgrounds often don’t even think about careers in S.T.E.M. Our Rolls-Royce apprentice scheme is one way we have tried to overcome this and outreach in schools is another key way in which we are trying to address the challenge.
As this competition activity draws to a close, our recycling mission doesn’t end here! We continue encourage lots of plastic and timber waste upcycling. With the new recycling bins we have purchased, we are still hoping our school community will help us in donating items to be reused within D&T. We are open to receiving donations of denim, willow cuttings, newspaper and magazines, drinks can ring pulls (not cans), ribbons and buttons. Any donations would be greatly appreciated.
To find out more contact Sarah Burke, Head of AKS Design and Technology and you can follow us on X @AKSDesignTech