Aeronautical engineering soared to the top spot in a competition to find the best extended project at a St Albans secondary school.

Mayor of St Albans, Cllr Geoff Harrison, was invited to Nicholas Breakspear Catholic School to judge Year’s 7’s top six extended projects.

And he chose Phinehas Benjamin’s project on aeronautical engineering as the overall winner, beating off competition from projects on Google, painting beaches, animation, sports and space.

The Mayor said: “I was very impressed by the students I met and the high standard of the Year 7 projects. The young people produced excellent work and it was an extremely hard task to choose the top three projects.

“The students also seemed very interested when I talked about local democracy and the Magna Carta with its special place in St Albans’ history.”

After speaking about life as St Albans Mayor, he stressed the importance of young people feeling empowered to be involved in their community at all levels as well as reminding students to support charities and to make a difference.

Headboy Jason Misso commented: “We were pleased to have the experience of being able to spend time with the Mayor. His advice will no doubt make an impact on our future.”