
The
‘S Challenge’ was created to influence students to research a subject of their
choice and create a project considering aspects of STEAM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, Art and Maths). When the
students of Key Stage 3 finished their projects, they were asked to present in
front of two judges, Kirsty Brown representing Caedmon College Whitby and a
representative from SyntheSys.
This
year’s competition brought many creative and insightful projects. We would firstly like to congratulate all
partakers of KS3 for making a step in their life to pursue their passion, as
well as having the courage to present their findings in front of judges. This is not an easy task, and we can congratulate
them for showing such passion and initiative at such a young age.

Secondly, we would like to congratulate the joint winners of this year’s
prize; Emily with her ‘Fast Fashion’ Project and Tristan’s Coding project. Emily’s ‘Fast Fashion’ established many issues
we face with the world today and how the fashion industry, specifically fast
fashion, is contributing to the global climate. We were blown away by her artistic
representation of this matter which is why we gave her 1st place. Tristan’s coding project was inspired from an information
and Communication Technology (ICT) lesson but the way he took his knowledge to
the next level stunned the judges. Tristan
created a report that looked at the evolution of coding and his predictions on
the future of technology. On top of this
report, Tristan created his own computer game that demonstrated his hard work
and understanding of coding. As both
subjects showed great initiative and included multiple aspects of STEAM, we
felt it was only fair to award 1st place to both
Emily and Tristan.
Kirsty
Brown, head of business studies at Caedmon College Whitby, spoke on this year’s
challenge
“This is a fantastic opportunity for students to explore interests
outside of the curriculum. It allows
them to develop their research, teambuilding, and presentation skills. It was excellent to see such a diverse group
of projects, and adding arts to the competition opened up new ways for students
to present. I am overjoyed with the
entries we had this year, especially the winners Emily and Tristian, they
produced work that we hadn’t seen in previous years and you could see the
passion they had around their chosen topic. A huge well done to everyone who took part and
I am looking forward to continuing this project next year.”
Other
special mentions include Dom, Toby and Angus with the Best Presentation award,
Isaac with the Most Complex Topic award and Harry and Esme with the Examined Most
Research award. Very well done to you
all.
John
Hartas, Managing Director of SyntheSys, had this to say about this year STEAM
challenge;
“This year’s projects, yet again, never failed to amaze the judges with
the brilliant young minds of Caedmon College, Whitby. It is always a pleasure to be able to work
with the pupils to expand their knowledge on subjects they are passionate
about. All participants should be proud
of their final products and I would like to congratulate them on being creative
and having the courage to think outside the box. I hope to see them all again next year.”