Trinity Academy win nation-wide challenge for second year running

After working tirelessly on their project during lockdown, pupils and staff at Trinity Academy were announced as the winners of the Scottish final of the UK’s Shell Bright Ideas Challenge for 2019/20.

Trinity Academy's winners

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They have retained the title following their victory in last year’s competition.

This year, the Bright Ideas Challenge, organised by Shell, invited students to imagine what the world will be like in 30 years’ time, and to put their science, technology, engineering and maths skills to work to put together a proposal that would make the world a better place to live. The competition asked pupils from across the UK to imagine innovative solutions to the energy challenges facing cities of the future.

With their remit set, the team of Ada Hayden-Joiner, Ava McKie, Cara Burnet, Iris Hughes and Rachel Baxendale and their teacher, Florence Donaldson, set to work.

After considering the problems in their own school canteen, the idea for Café Earth was born, with the S3 pupils’ 38-page proposal focussing on sustainable food sourcing within cities

The eco-friendly café is designed to improve the energy-efficiency of cities. The hypothetical launch of the café is funded by government and environmental charity grants, and assistance with efficient energy production is provided by renewable energy professionals.

The community lies at the heart and soul of the proposal, with the team hoping the café will bring benefits to the community as a whole.

From the healthy, affordable and locally sourced menu, to the greenery around the café to provide clean air, Café Earth aims attract citizens across the generations.

The team are determined that their café will not contribute to harmful greenhouse gases, while also helping to support local businesses.

They said “products from local businesses will be sold in the shop and produce we cannot grow ourselves will be bought from nearby farms. Finally, a part of our profits will feed back to community charities.”

Speaking of the girls’ success, the school said “We are all incredibly proud of the girls achievements and we can only hope it inspires other young people to get excited about how designers, scientists, engineers and everyone in the technologies industries can make a difference. Well done to all involve.”

The £4000 prize money will go towards bringing the school’s technology lessons to life.

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