A team of seven students from Cullercoats Primary School have won a place at an international STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) competition in Greece.
First LEGO League is a programme run by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) with over 80 tournaments taking place across the UK and Ireland.
Team ‘Robi 1 Kenobi’ from Cullercoats Primary School were named the winners of the North Tyneside regional tournament. The school qualified for the national finals and was part of 66 teams of students, aged 9-16, who took part in the competition at the University of West England in Bristol on 22 February.
Judges were left massively impressed by the young engineers, awarding them first place in the Core Values category and third place overall. This meant that the pupils qualified for the international leg in Thessaloniki, Greece, in May – making them the first North East team to compete in this competition internationally.
Challenges gave the youngsters the opportunity to show off their skills, as they built and programmed a robot to complete time trial challenges against other teams.
Cllr Peter Earley, cabinet member for Children and Young People, said: “It makes me immensely proud to see young people getting so involved with events like this. It gives them a fantastic opportunity to show how intelligent and creative they are.
“I’d like to say a massive congratulations to Cullercoats Primary, and good luck for the finals in Greece – you will have all of North Tyneside supporting you!”
Jonny Reed, Cullercoats Primary School teacher and team head coach, said: “I’m so proud of the team, they’ve all done so fantastically well and are such a lovely group, they really care for each other so much and are a credit to the school, they deserve their prize and I’m looking forward to joining them as they continue their adventure, picking up real world skills and new friends as they go.”
Proud of her achievement, one of the team members, 11-year-old Sophie Walker: “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done, I really love being part of ‘Robi 1 Kenobi’ and I’m so excited about going to Greece, we’ve all been jumping up and down together. It’s amazing.”
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