Rainford High washes away the competition at Unilever Awards

Students at Rainford High have taken home first prize at the Unilever Bright Futures awards.

Year 10 students claimed first prize at the Unilever Bright Futures Celebration & Assessment Awards for their innovative ‘Soap & Suds Toys’ product.

Going head to head with students from 21 schools across the region, teams had to design an innovative new product for Unilever’s Bright Futures programme.

Delivered in collaboration with All About STEM, the initiative aims to develop the entrepreneurial skills whilst using STEM to develop sustainable solutions for the future.

‘Stand-out winner’

Rainford High’s team was tasked with designing a product to encourage children in the developing world to wash their hands.

The team quickly developed ‘Soap & Suds Toys’ based around the concept of producing a transparent bar of soap with toys inside.

The bar would then be packaged with a re-usable board game, encouraging children to wash their hands in order to release the toys and play the game.

Students presented their prototype to the board of judges, using diagrams and concept models. Receiving full marks from every group, ‘Soap & Suds Toys’ was the stand-out winner.

Ian Young, principal at Rainford High, says: “The Unilever Bright Futures programme with All About STEM has proven to be an incredibly engaging way for students to learn more about the possibilities of STEM learning.

“I’m incredibly proud of our winning team’s innovation, hard work and determination. What’s more, the challenges set throughout the day encouraged pupils to develop many skills, including teamwork, communication, leadership, creativity and presentation skills.”

‘Innovative design’

Following judging, Unilever delivered a talk to students about its Bright Futures Programme and All About STEM discussed ways to facilitate STEM in schools and The Big Bang North West.

Michelle Dow, managing director at All About STEM, adds: “The Bright Futures project has been huge success and we are honoured to be a part of it. The schools involved all did such a great job on their projects – the judges had a really tough job.

“I’m not sure who enjoyed it the most! I would not be surprised to see the winning idea on supermarket shelves in the future, it was such an innovative design.”