A team of girls from Arnewood School has won a prestigious competition by designing a water purification system.

The Soroptimist Club in Bournemouth invited local schools to take part in the challenge to help raise girls’ awareness about careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM subjects).

The Year 9 girls from the New Milton school designed their “Water-Phant” system for use in sub-Saharan Africa. It uses the natural energy of the sun to produce clean water from contaminated supplies.

They were also praised by the judges for their excellent team work, courtesy towards each other and technical knowledge.

The brief for the “Soroptimist STEM Challenge” was to design anything that could help improve the lives of the world’s poorest communities.

The girls wanted to ensure that the product was easy and cost effective to produce, and contained no moving parts or expensive batteries of solar cells. The four girls in the Arnewood team – Savanna Contreras, Ellie Procter, Lois Fry-Samuels and Jemma Wood – worked tirelessly under their own initiative for six months to produce the final design.

Ellie said: “From this experience I have learnt that there is a lot more thought behind a product than just making it.”

Jemma added: “This experience has shown me that every day we take many things for granted. I now quite like engineering and I have realised that it’s not just for boys.”

Arnewood’s deputy headteacher Nigel Pressnell said: “This is a wonderful achievement by the girls who have worked incredibly hard.

“And it shows that there is no reason why girls shouldn’t pursue careers in these STEM subjects.”

The Soroptimist Club in Bournemouth created this challenge to celebrate its 75th Anniversary.

The event also coincided with International Women’s Day, echoing the core values of Soroptimist to inspire women and transform lives.

The prize for the winning team will be presented at a celebratory lunch at the Bournemouth International Centre in May this year.