This morning Year 8 pupils were the willing audience for our Year 9 FameLab competitors – all of whom spoke for three minutes on a STEM topic of their choice. The topics were wide ranging and thought provoking, covering diverse areas of interest from cricket to Rubik’s Cubes to the sky and the big bang. While the judges sequestered themselves to cogitate, the audience watched some of FameLab’s back catalogue of videos, including Hem’s talk at the county finals last year, which took place at The Roses Theatre in Tewkesbury – 26 schools took part in the finals last year and Hem was runner up, a fantastic achievement.

The judges had an incredibly tough job, but eventually chose Toby as their final winner with his fantastic talk ‘Thinking outside the cube’. He will now go through to the finals to compete against pupils from across Gloucestershire. A huge well done to all the speakers who took part today.

Winner

• Toby H - Thinking outside the cube

Runners Up

• Hritvik G – Blink and you’ll miss it: the science behind a batsman’s focus
• Nathan J – The Human Brain: A work in progress...

Other Competitors

• Jacob N – The real Jurassic Park: smaller, feathered and scarier
• Alex M – Why do we love listening to music?
• Joshua T – Fireworks: Beyond the Bang
• Sarthak G – Reaction Time: the science behind split-second decisions
• Sriansh M – The Sky: Nature’s biggest secret
• Satvik J – Fusion: The energy of tomorrow
• Harrison J – The Physics of Flight: Suck, squeeze, bang, blow

Judges

• Mrs Caite Clawson, STRS Trustee
• Mr Rob Tipples, STEM mentor from Cheltenham Science Festivals
• Mr David Dempsey, Deputy Head

The FameLab competition is run by Cheltenham Festivals, with the aim of engaging Key Stage 3 pupils across Gloucestershire in science communication.

www.cheltenhamfestivals.org/our-projects/famelab