Science fair finals for students

Science students at schools across Surrey and beyond visited a top university in their lab coats to compete in a prestigious science fair.

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Science students at schools across Surrey and beyond visited a top university in their lab coats to compete in a prestigious science fair.

They were  joined by pupils from more than 26 primary and secondary schools in  the multi-academy GLF Trust at the Royal Holloway University on Monday (April 1) to exhibit science projects they have produced at home.

Projects were incredibly diverse and ranged from ‘Why don’t polar bears get cold?’ to ‘Life and death of planet earth’ and ‘which brand of kitchen roll is the most absorbent?. Each was beautifully presented and had been thoroughly researched.

More than 30 businesses also took part in the finals with displays and stands at the university to encourage our pupils to look at future careers involving the STEM subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

The companies ranged from the Royal Society of Chemistry to the world-famous Brooklands Museum and many offered some great hands-on exhibits. There were also keynote speakers to inspire the children.

“This is the third year running we have held a science fair grand final event and it is getting bigger and better each time,” said Daniel Welch, Primary Science Leader at GLF Schools.

"This has been the best Grand Final yet. So many smiling faces, so many 'wow moments', so many incredible projects. We're lucky that we expanded the number of awards categories because it would have been impossible to find a single winner. The standard of the entries has been so high. It was fantastic a wide number of our children and schools were recognised for their success in science. The new venue has been terrific and we are very grateful to Royal Holloway University.

“The pupils created some fantastic projects in their own time, with no help from their teachers, for the grand final and the competition is always really tough,” he added.

Each project won its place at the final by beating others at school and the standard this year was particularly high.

“We were amazed at the complexity of some of the projects involved and the students have obviously worked very hard to be at the finals. It is great to think we could be inspiring a whole generation of future problem-solvers,” said Mr Welch.


The GLF schools which took part in this year’s event are: Aureus School,Chestnut Park Primary, Cordwalles Junior, Cuddington Croft Primary, Danetree Primary, Hammond Junior, Hillcroft Primary, Lightwater VIllage School, Lime Tree Primary, Marden Lodge Primary, Merstham Primary,  Merstham School, Pine Ridge and Lorraine Infant, Salfords Primary, Southgate Primary, Springfield Primary, Warlingham Village, Whyteleafe and Windmill Primaries.