23-05-2025
Wishaw pupils' theme park design takes school to the finals of engineering competition for third year running
Almost 1000 young people from across the UK entered The Big Bang Competition
Smart-thinking young people at St Aidan's High in Wishaw are finalists in this year's Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers competition thanks to their innovative design for a hydro-powered theme park.
It's the third year running that students from the school have made it to the finals of the competition.
Almost 1000 young people aged 11 to 18 years old from across the UK entered The Big Bang Competition, with over 100 projects shortlisted from hundreds of entries. Up for grabs is the coveted Big Bang UK Young Engineer, Big Bang UK Young Scientist and Big Bang UK Young Technologist of the Year awards.
Siemens are supporting the technologist category. Each category has a prize of £1,000.
St Aidan's S2 pupils – Michael McCall, Erin McDonald, Shannon O'Rourke, Martha Steel, James Todd, and Moyin Yusuf – came up with an eco-friendly theme park design for their entry this year.
Fionn O'Mara, Teacher of Science and Principal Teacher of Numeracy, said: 'We are Big Bang finalists again. The pupils were entered in the Junior Engineering Category for their Bronze Industrial Cadet Project - A Theme Park for the Future.
"Their project was to create a sustainable and eco-friendly roller coaster park. The group's solution was to create a hydro-powered park that would convert kinetic energy from a nearby river to electrical energy to power their coaster.
"The pupils designed, modelled and 3D printed a water wheel design, wrote a 25-page report and also went as far as creating a website for their park.'
St Aidan's High is one of only two Scottish schools in the finals, the other is St Roch's in Glasgow.
St Aidan's Head Teacher Audrey Farley, added: 'I am so proud of our talented young people for being invited to the Big Bang Final, especially as we are one of only two Scottish schools to make the final. In fact, this is our third year in a row to make the final which is an incredible achievement.
'Our talented finalists are very excited to showcase their sustainable roller-coaster as part of their 'A Theme Park of the Future' brief. As a Laudato Si school, we are always looking at sustainability and how we can reduce our footprint on the earth. Our learners are the change makers of the future and this was a wonderful opportunity for them to use their God-given talents, their inquisitive minds and their problem-solving skills to come up with creative solutions.
'The Big Bang project allowed our learners to build their confidence and develop their excellent collaboration and team work skills while having lots of fun! We appreciate the support of our amazing staff in supporting them, especially Mr O'Mara and we wish all our talented finalists the very best of luck as they head to the Big Bang final in Birmingham.'
A sustainable F1 helmet, an automated pill dispenser and an eco-friendly water filter are just some of the other impressive and diverse student projects through to the final round.
Winners of the Big Bang Competition, will be announced at The Big Bang Fair at the NEC in Birmingham from Tuesday to Thursday, June 17 to 19.
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