STEM Club visit to BAE, Farnborough - June 2015

On 4th June eight Y10 students were lucky enough to travel to an annual STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) competition held at BAE, Farnborough. The competition was fierce with over twelve schools from all over Hampshire competing.  Calthorpe Park are the reigning champions, having won the event for the last two years running and we were hoping to retain the trophy and set history by being the only school in the competition’s nineteen year history to win three times in a row.

Soon after arriving the students were set their challenge: to design and build a mechanism capable of firing a ping pong ball over 2m to hit a small target.  This was a simulation of when BAE test their jet engines to see how well they cope when foreign bodies such as ice are sucked into the fan blades.  During the day the students also gave a presentation to BAE senior engineers in a Dragon's Den scenario.  Undaunted as always our pupils rose to the challenge and all performed magnificently.

We were all extremely proud when the winners were announced and we were placed first – this is a truly amazing achievement as no school has ever achieved this amazing feat before!

So once again we came away proud winners of the trophy, a large framed aviation painting and amazon vouchers for each student.  A fantastic and victorious day out for our amazing STEM Club!  The trophy now sits proudly once again in the school’s trophy cabinet and we look forward to defending it again next year!

Mr D. Hainsworth