Secondary school students, their teachers and parents will travel to Imperial on 22 March to take part in the Schools Science Competition Grand Final.

The Imperial College Schools Science Competition Grand Final, run by the Faculty of Natural Sciences and now in its 3rd successful year, aims to motivate school students to engage with science and innovation, to encourage them to work together as part of a team and to engage them in a fun activity that is motivated by their curiosity and drive.

This year’s challenge called on teams of students from secondary schools across London to identify an everyday problem that directly impacts society and to come up with a new and innovative scientific solution to tackle this problem.

More than 50 teams entered this year’s competition, and 9 teams have now been shortlisted across three age categories and have been invited to come to Imperial for the showcase event to be held in March. At the event, the teams will present their projects to a panel of judges, including Professor Lord Robert Winston, Professor of Science and Society and Emeritus Professor of Fertility Studies; Dr Simon Foster, Outreach Officer from the Department of Physics; and Helen Sharman, from the Department of Chemistry and the first Briton in space.

As part of their prize, the winning team will visit the Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron – a world leading science facility which accelerates electrons up to very high speeds to produce bright beams of light that can then be used to study a vast range of subjects.

All finalist teams will also be invited to take part in this year’s Imperial Festival in May 2017.

Find out more about the competition here.

This year’s finalist teams:

Years 7-9

Saint Martha’s School

• Rachel Harper-Wilkinson
• Ellana Cowan
• Mara McNally
• Ailsa Rae

Mentor/Teacher: Mrs Daisy Martin

Henrietta Barnett School

• Bathra Dinesh
• Sophie Chan Ah Song
• Thamina Sayfi
• Anna Ebell
• Hetal Mehta

Mentor/Teacher: Mr Andrew Duffy

Highams Park School

• Isabel Denny
• Lily Holland
• Leyla Hilmy
• Thomas Aldeen

Mentor/Teacher: Mr Oliver Watson

Years 10-11

Bullers Wood School

• Gwendolyn Shepherd
• Omisha Routray

Mentor/Teacher: Mr Alex Feakes

The Heathland School

• Simrit Sekhon
• Alex Stevens
• Cameron Creaser
• Thisan Sriranganathan

Mentor/Teacher: Mrs Yusra Mohamed

Streatham and Clapham High School

• Lauren Brent
• Roza Boone
• Leila Keegan

Mentor/Teacher: Mrs Annalisa James

Years 12-13

Hatch End High School

• Abid Alizada
• Olachi Akin
• Alana Yahya
• Seiar Ataei

Mentor/Teacher: Mr Hiren Mehta

James Allen’s Girls School

• Alice Hopkins
• Rahma Alfarsy

Mentor/Teacher: Ms Yihuan Huang

Chelsea Academy

• Jeton Koxha
• Ali Hussain
• Ibrahim Mohamed
• Anton De Groot Van Embden

Mentor/Teacher: Mr Tim Gilchrist

Last year's competition

Overall Winners 2016

Last year's Schools Science Competition winners at the 2016 Imperial Festival

Newton’s 4^th Law, a team from Haydon School in Pinner and formed of Shivam Chauhan, Daniel Jenkins, Emilia Lawer and Lauren Wallis, took home the were the overall competition winners for their film and presentation on their idea for a new water purifier and electricity generator which utilises silver nanoparticles.

Runners Up 2016

Team SAS- Serious About Science, formed of Bilaal Auleer, James French, Ethan Swords and Ziggy Wamae from St Aubyn’s School, were winners in the Year 7-9 category with their idea for a case that uses an endothermic reaction to cool overheated personal devices quickly. 

Schools Competition Runners Up 2016 Team SAS at Imperial Festival

Team Technika, Abid Ahmed, Elliott Gordon, Zakir Hussain and Bernardo Silva of Oaklands School, were successful in the Year 10-11 category, for their idea for a dual car battery system.

The Scientistas, Mayurey Kalaravy, Livia Khullar, Lucy Mellers and Jane Murphy from James Allen’s Girls’ School, won the Year 12-13 category, for their idea for a tab that would be used to test for dangerous levels of bacteria toxins in food.

Frances Gamble, Head of Science at St Aubyn’s School and mentor of Team SAS said of last year’s competition, “It was fantastic for the pupils to be involved and it has only increased their enthusiasm for science.”