Bucks schools take part in Dragons’ Den-style green technology challenge

Students from Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School won over the panel of judges, who were impressed by the students’ idea of creating an app for students and parents to sell old uniforms for a fraction of the cost of buying brand new. This would help reduce waste and save money.

Organised by Buckinghamshire Council in partnership with Bucks Skills Hub and local businesses, the event enabled Year 12 students from Aylesbury High School, Buckingham School, Buckinghamshire College Group, Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School and Waddesdon Church of England School to learn from professionals in the field of green technology and sustainable business practices – helping them to develop and display a range of green skills, employability, technical, creative and academic skills.

Each school was allocated a supporting business to understand the challenge. They were then tasked with creating and presenting their idea to help their school reduce their carbon footprint.

Team names and supporting businesses were:

• The Green Machine (Aylesbury High School) with Whiffaway
• Green Eden (Buckingham School) with Lunaz
• The Bike Joint (Buckinghamshire College Group) with Shellwin Real Estate and Sorbon Estates
• Swapify (Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School) with Construction Specialties (Winners)
• Ban the Bottle (Waddesdon Church of England School) with KWSP

Participating students were asked to sum up, in a sentence, the benefits of being part of the challenge. Responses included:

• “It was fun and a great experience.”
• “Seeing how people function in corporate life.”
• “Learning about the huge range of jobs within the company.”
• “The employers were really helpful and supportive and helped us expand our project into what it became.”

Anita Cranmer, Cabinet Member for Education and Children's Services, was one of the ‘Dragons’ at the event and said:

“I wish to say a big thank you to all the schools and students who took part in the event. And also a special thanks to all of the local businesses whose partnership with us helped make this event a tremendous success.

“This was only the second time that Buckinghamshire has undertaken such a challenge with secondary schools, with the initiative focusing on how green technology can help the environment.

“It was fantastic to see how thoroughly engaged the students were and how passionate they all were about making a positive difference. We will continue to build on this initiative to continue to strengthen our communities and improve our environment as part of our #BucksClimateChallenge.”

The green technology challenge was the brainchild of Rachael Shimmin, Buckinghamshire Council’s CEO, after her visit in 2021 to see Lunaz’s innovative electric waste trucks. Rachael wanted to involve schoolchildren in thinking how green technology can help solve problems and originally spoke with Lunaz and DMC who wanted to get involved. The concept then turned into a competition aimed at Year 12 pupils.

The first Green Schools Challenge was so successful that more local businesses wanted to join and a total of seven businesses took part in the Green Schools Challenge, including Zenopa and Softcat PLC who helped to inspire the students.