The three projects invited were:

• Wettability of Plants – looking into the potential of using biomimicry of the hydrophobic properties of different plant leaves.
• Put a Jumper On! – looking into the structures of different insulators, and experiments investigating their effectiveness, and using SEM and EDX Analysis to identify historic paint composition for restoration.
• Worker Safety – looking into the chemical composition of different paint samples from historic buildings.

Despite an early start to get to Birmingham for 9AM, the students presented themselves very well. They displayed their project work and were extremely articulate in presenting their findings to others. All the students communicated brilliantly both at their stands and when going around the fair, both as individuals and in a group. The competition had over 800 entries overall and around 100 finalists. Even with such steep competition, our students were brilliant with the Wettability of Plants winning the ECITB Teamwork Award, a special award that recognises the importance of teamwork and collaboration and celebrates young people working together to innovate and create solutions. In addition to this, Put a Jumper On! was runner-up for the Intermediate Science Award, one of the core prizes in the competition. This was a brilliant day, and we look forward to seeing what projects our students work on next. Congratulations to our students on their incredible achievement.