Wealden Times | WT244 | September 2022 | Winter Interiors Supplement inside

Workin g
To
ether
ACS International School Cobham STEM Club
joins forces with disability charity, MERU
ACS International School
Cobham’s High School
STEM Club has been
working on a project to support
disability charity, MERU. The
charity helps disabled children
and young people with mobility
disabilities by creating unique
and assistive products.
MERU offers a range of
different products for children
of all ages – from toy adapters
to a specially designed powered
wheelchair, the Bugzi. Bugzis offer
a unique opportunity for preschool
children with disabilities
to experience independent
mobility, often for the first
time in their lives. Each Bugzi
is tailored and adapted to the
individual child’s needs, with the
capacity to adjust seating and
controls as he or she grows.
Working in teams, students in
the ACS Cobham STEM Club
have designed giant obstacle
courses, with various interactive
activities, so children can put
their Bugzis to the test while also
having fun. When designing the
courses, the STEM Club teams
had to consider safety, creativity
and – most importantly – fun,
generating ideas that would
engage the children to play
and experiment with their new
wheelchairs as much as possible.
While students spent the majority
of last year experimenting with
the designs of the obstacle
courses, next year they will
take the next step to build the
obstacles for children to enjoy.
A member of one of ACS
Cobham STEM Club’s teams
said: “After we attended our
first meeting, we decided
the initial ideas of what our
final products should look
like and got to researching.
Over the break, my group
members and I brainstormed
ideas and started working on
sketching out our project.
“Once our ideas were improved,
the teams started working on
the budget. We had to look
for affordable and good quality
materials to move forward with
designing the projects. One
of my teammates compiled all
of the designs onto a digital
booklet and we presented it to
MERU. We’re pleased to say, the
representatives of the charity were
happy with our ideas. We enjoyed
working on this project and are
looking forward to designing
the toys for the kids this year.”
In addition to its high quality
and rigorous academic offering,
ACS Cobham provides a wide
range of extra-curricular activities
to enable students of all ages
to develop their talents and
interests. The 128-acre campus
has a new STEM lab; high
quality sports facilities, including
a 25-metre swimming pool,
soccer and rugby fields, softball
and baseball diamonds, an allweather
track, tennis courts,
and a six-hole golf course; plus
a dedicated Performing Arts
Centre, featuring a 500-seat
state-of-the-art auditorium.
ACS Cobham has a diverse
student community, with
young people joining the school
from the local area, across the
UK and around the world.
To find out more about ACS
Cobham or to book an open
day, visit acs-schools.com/cobham
109 priceless-magazines.com