Year 7 students at Roding Valley High School have kick-started their secondary school journey by participating in the Race to the Line project; a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) competition designed to encourage engagement in STEM subjects and interest in future careers.
Running throughout the academic year, the project will see a group of Year 7 students from Roding Valley High School design, assemble and build rocket cars. The finished products, which are known to reach speeds of up to 70mph, will be entered into a regional qualifying round – going head to head against schools in the region to secure a spot in the country finals, and the global final beyond that.
Shetal Patel, Science Teacher at Roding Valley High School, said: “This is such an exciting opportunity to engage our new Year 7 students with STEM and extra-curricular activities at this critical point in their learning journey. The project will draw out a variety of new skills that tie into our school’s ethos: aspiration – setting each student up for a fantastic start to their time with us.”
The project is the latest in a string of STEM successes for the school, having recently achieved well above the national average in GCSE mathematics; 78.4% of students achieved grade 4 and above, compared with the national average of 59.6%, and 20.3% achieved grade 7 and above, compared with the national average of 16.1%.
Shetal Patel, who is also the school’s Challenge and Enrichment Co-ordinator, continued: “We are extremely proud of the academic successes of our students, but we are most proud of their commitment and dedication to extra-curricular activities which, of course, enable such academic success.”
The school’s participation in the project, supported by The Learning Partnership and Dendrite, a free social learning platform, was sponsored by local Loughton-based business, Haslers Chartered Accountants.
Sharon Jenner, Head Teacher, said: “Encouraging interest and skill development in the STEM area is a big focus for us at Roding Valley High School; we feel very lucky to be supported by Haslers Chartered Accountants, a local company and part of the community, in our pursuit of this.”
