Published on 13/11/19
On Monday 11 November, a group of ten Year 5 pupils spent the day in the splendid setting of Old Buckenham Hall School in Suffolk, for their annual Girls’ STEM Olympiad. In two teams of five, along with others representing several schools, they faced a series of challenges in Science, Maths, ICT and Engineering.
In each task, they had to use specialist skills, like chemical analysis to solve a forensic case in Science, calculating the volume of various objects in Maths, coding using Scratch to create an animation in ICT and designing a wind (well, hair-drier!)-powered vehicle in Engineering.
In addition, each team had to show more general, overarching skills, especially planning, team work, collaboration and communication and a certain creative flair, in order to problem-solve and complete the tasks successfully.
Our teams showed lots of enthusiasm in engaging with such a wide variety of challenges and worked well together, impressing the supervising staff with their thoughtful contributions, the way they meshed together as a team and their clear enjoyment of the tasks.
We all enjoyed the warm hospitality extended by the staff and pupils of Old Buckenham Hall and were moved by the touching Remembrance Day ceremony, in which we were included.
The girls all put in a spirited performance and, while not included in the final awards, the school can be very proud of the commendable level of commitment, enthusiasm and clear relish in rising to a wide range of challenges which they showed throughout the day.
