Member of Parliament for Bracknell Forest, James Sunderland, was the guest of honour at the 3M Young Innovators Challenge celebration event held at 3M Centre, Bracknell, on Friday 17 June.
The competition is designed to inspire the next generation of original thinkers through practical, creative STEM challenges and a total of 118 students from 10 Bracknell Forest  primary schools entered the 2022 contest.
They were invited to take part in three challenges – the AeroTech Challenge, the Mighty Monument Challenge and the Slo-Mo Marble Challenge – for the chance to compete for the top prizes of £750 worth of equipment for their school and a £50 gift voucher for individuals.
All the students who took part were also entered into the British Science Association’s CREST Award scheme, earning them a nationally recognised accreditation, funded by 3M. They will also be sent a 3M Young Innovators certificate and positive, personalised, judges’ feedback.
All the finalists, as well as teachers, parents and judges, attended the awards night where the pupils’ work was on display.
James Sunderland spent time chatting to the pupils about their work before the awards were presented and enjoyed seeing some of the demonstrations in action.Â
The MP warmly congratulated all the finalists and winners before handing out the prizes and said that he was impressed with the high standard of the entries that all demonstrated an impressive knowledge of STEM principles.
A big thank you goes to James Sunderland for presenting the prizes as well as the judges Dawn Thompson from the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board, Dr Ajay Sharman from STEM Learning and Richard Putland from Woods plc and 3M STEM Ambassadors Nicky Bradley, Andy Fish and Daniel Morgan.