In January, a group of six Year 8 students began the task of trying to create a sports stadium from scratch as part of a national initiative to promote the awareness of careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). As part of their brief, they had to design the stadium, taking into account issues such as legacy, sustainability, community use and safety. The group met twice a week to co-ordinate their activities and were ably assisted by two STEM ambassadors from the field of engineering.

On 5 May, the students travelled to the yet to be completed ‘Falmer Stadium’ that will be the new home to Brighton and Hove Albion. They were able to get an insight into what was involved in such a large project and also attended the Regional Finals of the ‘Create Sports Challenge’. Against stiff opposition from schools all over the South East, Charters students showed once again how talented they are and were rewarded with a very impressive trophy and the title of 2011 Regional Winners for the South East. We currently await details of the next stage in the process. The students involved are: Isaac Gardiner, Mital Patel, Ben Papworth, Gemma Suttie, Alexander von Sachsen-Altenburg and Anna Dutton. Well done to all of them, and thank you to Mr McNamara for all his work in helping to achieve this success.