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Furness Academy wins national marine project

A group of Year 8 students at Furness Academy have won a national competition, focused on sustainability and the importance of the planet’s marine environment. Led by the Dive Project Cornwall, the competition involved the students presenting a project about how they would like to become an “ocean influencer”, engaging and motivating others to save the planet.

The project presented by the Furness Academy STEM Club, takes plastic bottle lids and recycles them to be reused. The students used their recycled plastic to create a sculpture of a sea turtle, leading to engaging conversations about the importance of our marine life on the eco-system.

The STEM Club were able to deliver this project through a generous donation from BAE Systems as part of a community investment programme. This donation allowed the club to purchase a plastic shredder and additional equipment to recycle bottle caps. They used their recycled plastic to make the sea turtle, which ultimately won the Dive Project competition. The club are planning their next use of recycled plastics, including producing marine shaped keyrings for the new Year 7 students joining Furness Academy.

Glenn Kaighan, Assistant Director of STEM at Furness Academy said “We are grateful to the BAE Community Investment Panel for funding our STEM project. Designed to raise awareness of plastics in the ocean, our STEM club have enjoyed sharing their recycling programme with their fellow students, with their turtle sculpture displayed proudly in the Furness Academy Reception. The fact that this project then went on to win a national competition is amazing and testament to the hard work that the students have put in”.

Helen Robinson, Deputy Headteacher at Furness Academy said, “We are incredibly proud that the students won the Dive Project Competition. As winners, we will be travelling to Cornwall next year with 20 students and three staff members to learn more about marine life, sustainability and even learn to scuba dive. None of this would have been possible without the support of the BAE Systems grant and we already have plans on how we can further develop this programme across our local community.”

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