Team Beacon have a blast at rocket contest

Young scientists from Banstead demonstrated their skills in a national competition that saw them design, build and launch their own rocket.

The 15 students from Years 7 to 11 at The Beacon School took part in the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) Water Rocket Challenge, held in Teddington.

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“Students had to design and build a rocket launcher, following specific specifications, and also build a rocket that would withstand up to 90 PSI and could successfully launch and maintain flight,” said Thandi Banda, Head of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) at the school, a member of the GLF Multi-Academy Trust.

“Students also had to design a banner that linked to physics,” she continued. “The team wanted to celebrate female scientists in STEM with a link to rocket engineering or space exploration, to highlight the importance of diversity in STEM and the key roles played by women in engineering.

“We chose both current and past representatives, such as Ada Lovelace (mathematician and computer scientist), Stephanie Wilson (NASA astronaut), and Shana Diez, the MIT spacecraft engineer dubbed ‘Rocket Woman’.”

The school’s rocketeers spent three months building and testing rockets in preparation for the event, working to iron out issues such as bottles being the incorrect size and wing spin directing rockets along the wrong trajectory. 

Despite the challenges, all their hard work paid off, with The Beacon team placing 11th out of the 40 schools that took part, and also winning awards for safely launching an egg without cracking it, and for best safety protocol during the launch – helped by the hard hats which had been provided by Creative Technology.

It was the second time The Beacon had entered a team in the annual competition and the students were able to meet some of the people currently employed at NPL, from astrophysicists to theoretical physicists. 

“We value the importance of enrichment and providing students with experiences that will extend their learning beyond the classroom curriculum,” said Miss Banda. “We want students to be able to make informed decisions about their future careers, having been exposed to as many activities as possible.”