Year 8 Science students, Milan Wood, Imogen Barry (both day girls from Caterham and Tatsfield) and Maria Nazhmeddinova (a boarder from Russia), have won the National Teen Tech Award Competition, Future of Education Category, held at The Royal Society on 20 June.
Judging a total of 1,400 entries were Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Dallas Campbell, Rory Cellan-Jones, and Professor Brian Cox. The Woldingham School team was presented with its award by doctor and television presenter, Dr Christian Jessen.
The team’s prize is an invitation to Buckingham Palace, for tea with HRH Duke of York (patron of Teen Tech), where the girls will receive their prize of £1,000 for the school.
The girls’ idea, My School Trip (MyST), is an app, designed to help and inspire teachers to book fun and exciting school trips. A prototype app was produced in conjunction with Manchester-based company, Dreamr, who spent a day at Woldingham with the girls, working on the development.
From a total of 1,400 entries into the awards, there were 10 categories in total for the 11-16 age group and an impressive eight of the final winners were teams of girls.
Jayne Triffitt, Headmistress, said “This is an outstanding achievement for the Year 8 team, particularly as they are at the younger end of the age group category. They have worked extremely hard on their idea and we are very proud to see them realise the project to the point of a prototype. Our thanks to the staff at Dreamr, who have given the girls some valuable help in embracing this opportunity and of course to our Science department, offering so much of their time and encouragement.”
Dreamr said: “Working so closely with Milan, Imogen and Maria, and of course Mr Rickard, has been an incredibly positive experience. We have seen at first hand the determination of these three young women who are intent on solving the problems faced by teachers organising school trips, and we are thrilled with the outcome. Our small contribution to the project was organised through our Dreamr Academy, as part of our programme to inspire the next generation of designers and developers. We would love to see the girls realise their dream of bringing the app to life in the future, wish the girls and all at Woldingham School every success, and hope to work with the school again in the future”.