Congratulations to Ian in Y7, who has been presented with The STEM Workshop Outstanding Pupil Award: Age 5-11, at the Design and Technology Association Excellence Awards on 14 October 2022.
These annual awards, held at The Institution of Engineering and Technology in London, recognize those involved in design and technology education around the country. Ian demonstrated his deep love of the subject, beyond classroom contributions, with an impressive portfolio of personal projects that he built up during his time in the Junior School.
Ryan Ball, Director of Education at The Design and Technology Association, said: “The judges were simply blown away by Ian and the evidence submitted. Whilst it was a strong category, Ian stood above the others due to not only the complexity of the outcomes produced at such a young age, but the passion, enthusiasm and independence shown to identify and tackle real problems was fantastic. The sheer fact that these were all produced independently and so much of it was self-taught is another contributing factor and is again, very impressive.”
Andy Thomson, Director of Design, Technology and Engineering, enthused: “Ian’s middle name is Innovation! He embodies the inventor mentality and seems to be always working/developing his ideas, in school and at home. One of these projects (called the Curious Crest Counter) has led to a new reward system in the junior school, what a legacy already! This award from the Design and Technology Association celebrates Ian’s journey so far and hopefully inspires other students to explore and innovate. He was one of the youngest participates in the Teen Tech competition last year and now with this award he will be the first to be awarded this accolade in his age group. Myself and the whole DTE departmental are so very proud of Ian and can’t wait to see what he gets up in the years to come.”