St Mary’s Calne sisters win international science prize

St Mary’s Calne sisters Alice and Clara Wade have won the University of Sheffield’s prestigious Prize for Innovative Use of Technology in Science Learning 2016 with their video Test Tube Babes. This international competition is open to pupils aged 11–18 from any school in the world, to create the best video about any science, technology, engineering or mathematics subject. Test Tube Babes is an informative, fun and quirky video, filmed by Alice and presented by Clara. The prize money of £300 will be shared between the girls and the school. Alice intends to buy a new video camera and the school is looking to run a Saturday Science Communication Course next year with the prize money. Alice said, ‘Being IVF babies ourselves, we thought this video would be a fun and creative way to explore the science behind how IVF babies are created. It took two days to film and a further two days to edit. The hardest part was trying to get the right balance between being informative, while also being tongue-in-cheek and injecting some fun into the film.’ Both girls are studying A levels at St Mary’s Calne. Alice has ambitions to be an environmental filmmaker.