MORE than 200 children from eight schools across Exmoor and West Somerset have just completed their annual science competition, stimulated by a new project celebrating West Somerset’s connections with the pioneering computer visionary Ada Lovelace.

Children from all of the schools in the Moorland Federation were represented in the final, with the pupils having worked for three months developing projects linked to the subjects of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

A special science event was held at Dunster First School, where the children enjoyed a workshop learning about and building rockets.

The pupils’ projects, ranging from the lifecycle of frogs to black holes, were judged by a panel of science and education experts with the best three projects in each of key stages one and two winning prizes for their work.

The results saw key stage one top prizes go to pupils in Cutcombe First School, All Saints School, Dulverton, and Dunster First School.

Key stage two winners were from Dulverton Junior School, St Dubricius First School, Porlock, and Cutcombe First School.

Cutcombe and Exford headteacher Alison Blackmore said: “This has been another great undertaking by the pupils across the Moorland Federation and the judges found it very hard to single out any one project for the overall award.”

The competition was supported by the newly-founded Ada in Porlock group, which is encouraging interest and uptake of STEM subjects using the inspiration of Ada Lovelace, the world’s first computer programmer, who spent much of her time in Porlock.

Ada in Porlock co-ordinator Dr Stephen Colson said: “This year has been a great start and we have been hugely impressed by all the effort of the students and staff to put together such an interesting body of work.

“There was great experimentation, beautiful presentations, and really thoughtful discussions on their work.”