STUDENTS at The Cooper School in Bicester beat over 80,000 students at last month's Big Bang Fair to win a license to an industry leading STEM technology platform.

In the Big Bang Fair, two pupils, Tilia and Hannah, scored the fastest time of 17.3 seconds in the Dassault Systèmes Ocean Clean up competition to secure the top prize.

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Students were asked to use a range of instruments to clear two water tanks from plastic debris in the quickest time.

The winners got a year's license to Solidworks, a 3D computer-aided design and engineerng program developed by Dassault Systèmes, for their school.Bicester Advertiser:

The software helps students to prepare for careers in design and manufacturing industries and Dassault Systèmes designed the competition to encourage pupils to consider the variety of careers available in STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and how those careers can help inspire positive and sustainable global change.

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John Kitchingham, managing director at EuroNorth at Dassault Systèmes, said: “We were overwhelmed with the amount of tech savvy pupils and students who visited the Big Bang Fair this year, and proud of all participating teams who explored the possibilities of STEM activities using our tools.

"Of course, the biggest congratulations must go to the students at The Cooper School, who we look forward to introducing to our SOLIDWORKS platform.”