This morning saw the Gloucester schools FameLab Academy final. This is the first year that Severn Vale have taken part in the Science Communication competition which is open to students in Y9. Pupils must speak for 3 minutes on a science topic of their choice and are judged on the 3 Cs – content, clarity and charisma. Charlie Roberts was the winner of our Severn Vale competition and so represented our school in the grand finale.

The event was held at the Roses theatre in Tewkesbury. He was up against finalists from 11 other schools in Gloucestershire. The audience was huge – teachers and students from all the participating schools, and families of the contestants. Dr Jamie Gallagher, Scientist and Science Communicator was compere for the morning and the competition was judged by Jo Durrant, Adam Hart and Kerissa Khan.

The quality of talks from all the school finalists was phenomenal. We were amazed and entertained by them all but especially by Charlie’s. He had the audience enrapt from the moment his fake arm, borrowed from SVS science department skeleton, fell off at the beginning of his talk. He went on to talk eloquently about how axolotls are able to regenerate their limbs, stem cells and their potential in medicine. He dissected a complicated and important topic and explained it in a way that everyone could understand. He spoke without a hint of nerves or a single stumble over his words and he made the audience laugh. We couldn’t have been prouder when he was awarded the runners-up prize!