Our First Lego League team are winners!
On Friday 13th January a team of Year 6 pupils, ‘Razor Sharp Minds’, participated in the First LEGO League Regional tournament at Gatwick Airport.
In the run up to the competition, the children designed and built a Lego EV3 Mindstorms robot, named Febee, and created algorithms to instruct the robot to autonomously solve the challenges on the Animal Allies competition table. The children also researched the theoretical side of the challenge; producing a presentation informing the judges of their solution to a real-world problem identified in ‘how animals and humans interact’.
Razor Sharp Minds performed amazingly throughout the day, demonstrating their aptitude and hard work within each of the judged categories. Throughout the competition the team operated under the First LEGO League signature set of Core Values, celebrating discovery, teamwork, and Gracious Professionalism®. The pupils worked splendidly in each of the assessed elements demonstrating super teamwork, technical understanding, proficient piloting of their robot and an understanding of how Bees and their forage are decreasing.
The Team eagerly awaited the award ceremony hoping to qualify for the National Final and to have a chance of making it to the World Championships in the USA or European championship in Denmark. The pupils watched the individual category awards being given to other school but, with screams of adulation and fist pumping, the pupils were named as the overall winners and claimed the coveted Champion’s Award – with a trophy made of Lego of course! The award is given to the team that performed outstandingly throughout, scoring highly in each area and that also demonstrated the essential core values.
I am so proud of the pupils; their teamwork, commitment, ideas, solutions and enthusiasm have been exemplary throughout our journey so far. The competition pits pupils of 10 and 11 against 16 year olds which highlights not just how challenging it is but also how well they have done – so far…
Razor Sharp Minds have now qualified for the National Final in Bristol on 26 February. Between now and the final we will be attempting to improve in every area and I would like to thank the parents for their support to date; delivering and collecting their children in the wind, rain and snow late into the evening and at the weekend.
Well done to all of the pupils who represented the school so amazingly and for receiving so many complements from the judges and competitor’s mentors for being AWESOME!
The ‘Razor Sharp Minds’ team are:
Joseph B, Joe F, Caitlyn F, Hannah W, Oliver F, Bjorn M, Anush U, Owen W and Edward D.
Click here to see photos from the competition.