Four pupils from Portslade have won a trip to Switzerland after their school entered a competition for science and technology students.
Their success was celebrated in a ceremony at the House of Lords in London last week where they were honoured for their work and achievements.
The winning students all take part in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) clubs and projects at the Portslade Aldridge Community Academy (PACA).
PACA was picked as the winner of the UK STEM Club of the Year in the tenth annual STEMNET awards.
The awards are intended to honour Britain’s most dedicated and inspirational people motivating young people in the STEM subjects.
They were presented in six categories by BBC journalist Steph McGovern and former Science Minister Lord Sainsbury of Turville.
The judges’ citation said: “PACA STEM Club took part in a huge range of STEM activities but through their STEM Ambassadors they took a particular interest in astronomy and coding.
“The club has also offered activities for students with widely different interests including developing a cosmetics business, green power racing and Dr Who themed science writing.”
The Science and Technology Facilities Council put up the winner’s prize to PACA. Four pupils will be treated to an exclusive visit to CERN in Switzerland.
CERN is one of the world’s largest and most respected centres for scientific research and famous for the Large Hadron Collider.
The students will fly to Geneva in December where they will have the chance to see cutting edge science in action and top physicists and engineers from across the facility.
The STEM centre manager at PACA Caroline Oprandi said: “At PACA we are very lucky to have a dedicated science, technology, engineering and maths centre, part of the £12.7 million investment in our campus last year.
“We have run several different STEM after-school clubs: Design and Make, Astronomy, Electronics and Natural Cosmetic Beauty Range.
Dr Oprandi said: ““We are very proud that, through the pupils’ dedication and commitment to the various clubs, as well as invaluable help from staff and students from both University of Sussex and University of Brighton, the projects went on to win various competitions.
“To illustrate the student’s passion for STEM, when asked what they wanted to spend their prize money on, the unanimous response was ‘back into the projects of course!’”
PACA principal Katie Scott said: “Our specialism in STEM subjects has really been boosted by the various businesses who have offered their support and donated resources to these projects.
“This has allowed us to develop science projects with neighbouring primary schools, and our students have benefited beyond measure via their interaction with external businesses, the University of Sussex and STEM Ambassadors.”
