Students from Marling School have won a prestigious engineering award.

A team of five year nine pupils won the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) competition to build a prototype aircraft.

Tom Spellman, Samuel Wittke, Harry Williams, Owen Herschell-Burns and Harvey Randall won their year’s competition to design, build and test a model aircraft.

They then competed against teams from six other schools at the grand final held at the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford on July 14.

The competition was judged by retired Astronaut Al Worden, who was the command module pilot for Apollo 15 and the first human to carry out a spacewalk in deep space.

Each team’s aircraft was scored for speed, target accuracy and innovation. The Marling team designed the fastest aircraft and were able to hit the target in each of the two flights allowed.

Steve Berry, Head of Design & Technology at Marling School, said: “I am absolutely delighted that our students’ innovation and enthusiasm has been recognised and rewarded.

“They competed against some very talented teams from other Gloucestershire schools and the skills and experiences they have gained will see them in good stead if they decide to pursue careers in engineering.”

The event was sponsored by Lockheed Martin, the American aerospace, defence and advanced technology company.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Marillyn Hewson, together with Air Marshal Sir Kevin Leeson, the chairman of the charity which runs the Airshow, presented the award.