Much has been said in the past few years about the rise of interest in STEM skills at primary school level.
That passion has turned to a prized win for St Aloysius Catholic Primary School, Cronulla.
The school recently won first place in the national STEM MAD competition for sustainability.
St Aloysius is a designated Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) school, which gives kids the chance to explore their understanding of all things numerical, practical and logical.
All pupils from the school - Kindergarten to year 6 - learn STEM skills, and have positive nurturing and mentoring from their teachers.
The school's STEM enrichment pupils work with STEM teacher David Bugden, who principal Elizabeth Ovens labels "the best primary STEM teacher in NSW", to develop solutions to real world problems.
Pupils get the opportunity to work with real engineers and industry professionals from the region.
A new report from Monash University recently identified best practices for recruitment and retention of females in STEM and IT education, such as reaching out to girls early in schools.
Ask one of these kids what they want to be when they grow up, and more often than not, the answer is an engineer, research scientist or robotic engineer.
"We want our students to have the skills now, so they will undertake further studies in secondary school that will eventually help them lead in STEM fields and really make a difference to the lives of others through the pursuit of engineering and STEM," Mrs Ovens said.
The school also finished runners-up in the overall national primary school category.
The team included Rosie, Flynn, Kate and Riley, who created the entry, and other stage 3 pupils from the STEM extension team who worked hard during the year.
