The ceremony recognised the achievements of our students in Years 8 to 13 over the last academic year, with more than 200 awards presented on the night.

“This included over 15 different project categories of awards and competitions, supported by staff and external businesses,” explained STEM Leader Victoria Mann, who was joined at the event by Isabel Colley, Richard Moore, Matilda Waite, Jamie Day, and Lucy McEvoy from the Science and Maths Departments, along with Senior Leadership Team STEM Leads Richard Thompson and Rebecca Davies-Mays, and our Headteacher, Andy Johnson.

“While not all students with an award could attend, we still gave out over 200 awards, with many more to be distributed over the next couple of weeks in school – meaning our current STEM projects reach a huge percentage of our school body, with activities reaching every member of our Year 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 cohorts.”

This year’s event was opened by Elena Clack, Youth Engagement Lead at the environmental charity Another Way, who spoke about green careers in STEM, and urged students to think about how they could impact change in their choices and actions.

Besides students and their families, other guests included representatives from Dodmans and Palm Paper, as well as members of the Rolls-Royce Engineering Team at RAF Marham, who recently worked with students on a Soapbox Derby challenge at our school, which is part of the West Norfolk Academies Trust.

“New awards this year included Race to the Line, creating CO2-powered race cars; STEM Challenge 2025, where pupils were tasked to write a report offering solutions to real-world environmental problems; and the National Thinking Competition with our Year 10 students,” continued Mrs Mann.

“These were awarded alongside a range of CREST Awards at different levels, Creative STEM Awards, and our STEM Leaders’ Awards for students who have dedicated an extended amount of time to STEM activities and projects, including helping to run clubs for younger pupils.”

“Each year, we celebrate what seems like an ever-increasing number of students and their achievements,” she added. “We know that recognising and raising the profile of students’ hard work in this area shows them the value of their efforts, as well as the application of it to both the wider world and their future careers.

“They have the opportunity to not just be celebrated, but also inspire those around them. It is our firm belief that this is why we see more and more students excel in these areas of our curriculum, and go on to do more brilliant things.

“New upcoming projects for this academic year include our enrollment in the Lego First League, combining coding and robotics, and building our own go-kart.”