A Clayton St John Church of England Primary School student has won the ‘What would you do if you were an engineer?’ national competition at the Primary Engineer awards against nearly 50,000 entries.
Students from across the UK were invited to take part in one of Primary Engineer’s flagship Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programmes that invited primary and secondary school students to imagine if they were an engineer, what problem they would most like to solve. To reach their solution, pupils interviewed professionals from the engineering field to help inspire them to create their own design of a solution to a ‘real-world’ problem through an annotated illustration, detailing their invention.
STEM leaders at Clayton St John, Miss Charlotte Rhodes and Miss Amber Dawson, hosted a whole-school competition on March 17th, 2023, where they were joined by professional engineers who specialise in the robotics and mechanics fields. The students were asked to design a device that could help tackle, either climate change or world poverty. Their designs, along with nearly 50,000 entries from across the UK were then subject to two rounds of grading.
Shindara Sunday, aged seven, designed a robot that could ‘eat’ rubbish, reprocess the materials and then create a toy that could then be sold in shops; the judges admired both her innovative design idea as well as the toy-selling enterprise that she proposed. Shindara was subsequently delighted to find that she was the winner for her age group and was invited to attend the Primary Engineer STEM exhibition and awards ceremony in Sheffield, along with her family and teachers. On the night, Shindara learned that her design had also been sent to engineering students at Sheffield Hallam University where her prototype design will be created.
Clayton St John are also proudly working alongside STEMazing, a social enterprise company dedicated to inspiration and inclusion in STEM. Students are taking part in a weekly after-school club, led by a female Formula 1 engineer, who guides them through creating their own STEM masterpiece each week using only basic resources. Clayton St John are proud to support the vision of STEMazing, who aim to amplify the voices of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and promote diversity in the field.
Mrs Gemma Emsley, Head Teacher at Clayton St John C of E Primary School, said:
“We have raised the profile of STEM at Clayton St John this year and the staff and children have embraced the projects and activities we have planned with much enthusiasm. It is wonderful to see our children being recognised for their creativity and to aspire to be the next generation of engineers!”
“Well done Shindara! We are all very proud of you!”