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Aqua Innovators earn CREST Awards

A team of pupils from Upper Shirley High School in Southampton have received Silver CREST Awards in recognition for their work in creating a water useage awareness app, for the Aqua Innovation competition.

Aqua Innovation is a KS3 initiative run by Southern Water and Global Action Plan, with support from STEMNET, which gets secondary school students involved in improving the sustainability of their school.  The programme incorporates water audits, challenge days and a student-created communication campaign, product or service. Each team that took part had an expert helping hand from a STEM mentor, and engaged their school community to save water, energy and money by developing a water saving campaign.

The Upper Shirley High School students devised an app which encourages people to save water by timing showers, quizzing them about water useage, and letting them earning points towards prizes by reducing their water consumption.  They made it to the competition finals, and presented their work at Fontwell Racecourse in West Sussex to a panel of water industry experts.  For their hard work, the students received Silver CREST Awards.  

The awards were presented by Ajay Sharman, Regional STEM Director for the South East, who says: “I was hugely impressed by the presentations from the schools and the broad range of ideas generated in this Aqua Innovation challenge. I am particularly glad STEM Ambassadors supported the schools and pupils.”

10 secondary schools are currently competing in the 2012/13 challenge, but to find out more and get involved in 2013/14 contact the Global Action Plan Schools Project Officer at schools@globalactionplan.org.uk.