St Mary's students excel at Cambridge's FXP Festival
During the summer break, St Mary’s students participated in the FXP Festival, Cambridge’s annual games development and design competition, which brings together young people from across the region to explore the intersections of creativity, storytelling, and technology.
Established to nurture both technical and transferable skills, the FXP Festival challenges students to design and develop original games, while also considering the narrative, aesthetic and collaborative dimensions of the creative process.
National and regional coverage of the event, including features on ITV Anglia, That’s TV Cambridgeshire and BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, highlighted the importance of the festival as a unique educational experience. Beyond the immediate excitement of competition, the FXP Festival serves as an introduction to the wider digital creative industries, providing pupils with opportunities to engage with professionals, receive feedback, and develop confidence in their ability to innovate.
For St Mary’s participants, the festival offered a chance to synthesise skills developed across the curriculum. Coding and digital design were brought together with elements of creative writing, visual communication, and problem-solving. Students reflected on the iterative nature of the design process, learning how to refine their ideas in response to constructive critique and practical constraints. Equally significant was the emphasis on teamwork, with pupils required to collaborate closely, manage time effectively, and present their projects with clarity and conviction.
Engagement in initiatives such as the FXP Festival underscores St Mary’s commitment to providing students with access to academic enrichment activities that extend learning beyond the classroom. By bridging the arts, sciences, and technology, the event demonstrated how interdisciplinary approaches can empower students to apply their knowledge in meaningful and original ways. The enthusiasm with which our students embraced this opportunity reflects their intellectual curiosity and their readiness to contribute to fields that are shaping the future of both education and industry.
August 2025