A team of students from a Brentwood school has won a national engineering competition.

Charlotte Buttery, Jahnina Queddeng, Alicia Trew and Abbie Cook, who are Year 13 pupils at Brentwood Ursuline Convent High School, in Queens Road, competed against teams from three other schools in the finals of the national Engineering Education Scheme Award.

The girls had to make a presentation and answer questions from expert judges during the Future Industry Leaders Awards ceremony at the Institution for Engineering and Technology in London.

To reach the final, they had completed a six-month project with the Engineering Education Scheme, which is run by education charity the Engineering Development Trust.

The team was mentored by engineers Adrian Jarvis and Dave Foulger from Chelmsford-based firm Huawei Marine Networks as they worked on a device to clean tar coatings from fibre-optic telecommunications cables under the sea. They produced computer-aided designs and a 3D-printed prototype, which was nicknamed the ‘Tarminator’.

Mr Jarvis said: “I have been very impressed with my students. They have shown a great maturity and learnt a lot about engineering that I believe will benefit them in their chosen profession. I hope their enthusiasm will encourage the next generation of young women to enter a rewarding career in engineering.”

Team member Alicia Trew described working on the project as “an invaluable experience”, while Abbie Cook said creating a working prototype was “a really satisfying achievement”.

Teacher Zino Dif added: “The scheme has provided our girls with a unique opportunity to experience how physics and engineering work in the real world.”