On 24 June Year 7 completed the Squashed Tomato Challenge during their Global Citizenship Day.  They began their day by learning about the Geography of Nepal as well as looking at the difficulties that many of the locals face due to extreme poverty and difficult landscapes.  We focused on the farmers who grow their vegetables on small strips of land on a mountainside and then have to transport their produce down the mountain and over a river in order to sell it at the market.  Many farmers carry these heavy loads on their heads; it can take hours to walk to the bottom, by which point much of the produce is damaged.  The charity Practical Action has worked with the Nepalese government to design a piece of sustainable technology that could help with this problem.  Practical Action is working towards Technology Justice; their vision is for a sustainable world where technology is used for the benefit of all.  Currently technological innovation is focused on meeting the wants of rich consumers rather than the most basic of needs of poor people in the developing world.

Year 7 were set the challenge of designing and building a model to transport as many cherry tomatoes as possible from a station two metres above the ground.  In their groups girls built ramps, tunnels and pulley systems and through excellent teamwork and great imagination we saw range of possible solutions.  The two winning teams both used a system of ropes to transport the tomatoes and when we looked at the real solution of an aerial runway we saw that they were very close to replicating it.  Through completing this challenge many girls also achieved the CREST Discovery award from the British Science Association which will be given out next term

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