STEM Club

STEM Club is for all pupils in Years 8-12 who have an interest in Science Technology Engineering and Maths.

We meet every Wednesday after school in room 64 to carry out research, experiments and competition work.  Pupils complete both individual and group projects which then enter into various competitions throughout the year. The competition entered include:

STEM Club continues to thrive, encouraging innovation, teamwork, and creativity across all year groups. In June, we celebrated pupils’ success in the Primary Engineers Competition— a UK-wide event with over 72,000 entries. From our 44 entries, special congratulations go to Sophie Cawley, Kyle Peden, Daniel Hickey, and Taylor Stewart (awarded distinctions), and to Harry Sloan, Max Makaveckas, Natalia Skrobakova, and Callum Baillie, who were overall winners in their age groups.

Also in June, Junior STEM Club welcomed St Colmcille’s Primary Lego League team, and past pupils Jonathan McGuaghey and Lewis Mewha from Thales for a STEM workshop.

In October, the RAF visited Year 8 pupils for a hands-on robotics session using Spike Prime Lego. November brought national success, as Ashton Mui, Callum Baillie, and Niall Manson presented their award-winning ARI project at the SciFest National Final in Dublin.

45 Year 10 pupils enjoyed the Brian Cox Science Summer School, while 36 Year 9s took part in the Faraday Challenge, thanks to support from Sentinus staff. Our First Lego League team competed brilliantly at W5, earning medals. Miss Wylie also received the Teacher/Coach Award.

In March, Year 9 pupils competed in the Rotary Club Technology Challenge at NRC. Meanwhile, the Sentinus R&D team—Amelia McCormac, Ashton Mui, Ella Kyle, Matthew McCullough, and Natalia Skrobakova—worked with Collins Aerospace to develop and present a prototype solution to a real-world engineering problem.

Thanks to an IET grant, our senior team entered the First Tech Challenge for the first time, winning the Innovate Award at regionals after months of robot design and programming.

We’re also excited to introduce our Greenpower Car Team, made up of Years 12–14 pupils. They have designed and are now building an electric car to compete in the F24+ Greenpower competition in June.

STEM pupils, BTEC Engineering and Construction students have also benefited from outreach with Caterpillar, Clarkes Engineering, Collins Aerospace, Moore Concrete, and Thales. These partnerships included factory tours, career talks, and insights into apprenticeships.