A SCHOOLGIRL from Middlewich was welcomed into Buckingham Palace for a special winner’s reception after scooping first prize in the TeenTech competition.

Year eight pupil Isabel Holdcroft-Clarke and her Sandbach High School classmates Ella Reeder and Rosie Darracott-Gray, entered the TeenTech competition. 

The competition was founded in 2008 to help the ‘X Factor generation’ understand their true potential and the real opportunities available in the contemporary STEM workplace. 

Isabel and her two friends presented ‘Lights out’ – an emergency lighting solution aimed at countries following natural disasters or power failures. 

Their entry won the Safety and Security category sponsored by Symantec, and the pupils received prizes of iTunes vouchers together with £1,000 for the school and an invitation to a reception hosted by patron of TeenTech, HRH the Duke of York at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday, November 4.

Tracey Sellers, science teacher and STEM co-ordinator at Sandbach High School, said: “Ella, Rosie and Isabel together with teacher Mr Massey had a fantastic day in London where they attended the winner’s reception at Buckingham Palace on 4 November.

“This was the fruits of 12 months hard work in STEM club; the girls took their idea from a concept, which came about when Ella was reading a newspaper article, through to a working prototype.”