A TEAM of pupils from Frenchay C of E Primary School has triumphed in a regional competition to develop tech skills.
Nine children from Year 6 competed in the First Lego League Bristol regional tournament, hosted by Hotpoint at its factory in Yate in March, taking on five other teams from across Bristol and south Gloucestershire.
The Frenchay pupils came away with two trophies – the robot performance award and the overall championship, after building robots to complete a series of missions in competitive matches – and will now headed to Harrogate in Yorkshire in April, to compete in the national finals.
Curriculum lead Hannah Price said: “The team members have been working for a few months now in an after-school club to work on the core values of teamwork, inclusion, discovery, innovation, impact and fun!
“They competed against other schools in the area to code a Lego robot to complete different missions and win points.
“The competition had four parts, and the team came away with not one but two trophies.”
Stanbridge Primary School in Downend, which won the Bristol tournament two years ago, also took part this year.
The First Lego League Challenge is an international science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) competition held in over 100 countries worldwide.
Teams of children aged between nine and 16 are challenged to design, build and program an autonomous Lego robot, research a themed topic and prepare a presentation of their findings.
This year’s tournament encouraged teams to present new ideas for communicating art across the world.
Hotpoint spokesperson Ian Moverley said: “In our industry, we’re very aware of the need to encourage young people into STEM careers and see first-hand the importance of helping to bridge the skills gap between school leavers and the workforce.
“Enabling local schools to take part is a great opportunity for our team to get involved with our community, but also gives young people the chance to learn and develop skills that can be more difficult to foster in a normal school setting.”
Teams interested in entering next year’s contest should email events@consciouscomms.com for more information.