Last year, students from both Year 10 and Year 8 joined forces and were awarded the winner of the Design, Make and Market Challenge with their 'Peace Pod' concept. The annual competition is organised by the Newbury & District Agricultural Society (NADAS). With a new idea in hand, the now Year 9 students were back to defend their title...with some new members of the team!  

The brief was to design a product with an agricultural, horticultural, environmental or sustainability theme, which they then had make into a prototype to present and 'market' to a panel of judges at the final which took place at Bayer on Friday 8 May. 

The team's focus was to find a way to educate young children, aged 4–7 years, about environmental topics such as renewable energy, biodiversity and eating sustainably. After much research, they came up with the idea of a busy book around a 'Farm to Fork' theme, based on a local organic producer - Tolhurst Organic.

Armed with their display and prototype, the 'Bzzzy Books' team were questioned by the judges and presented their idea to the room. Although only two teams entered this year, the opposing team had a similar concept, and with both schools presenting an excellent product and marketing plan, they gave the judges the very difficult job of picking a winner. It even came down to a vote!

Congratulations to our all-female team who have retained their title and won for the second year in a row! They worked so hard on their idea and did us proud. They have been invited to the Newbury Show in September to officially receive the trophy. They have also won £200 for the school, plus £100 to cover the costs of producing their prototype.

If you would like to take part next year, please speak to Ms Crawley, Head of Technology, or Mrs Saunders, Sustainability Lead.