TALENTED students have been excitedly prepping for the finals of a national competition where their robotics, coding and innovation skills will be pitched against dozens of other teams across Great Britain.
The She Can Code Society, from Durham High School, qualified for the prestigious FIRST® LEGO® League UK National Final, at the Harrogate Conference Centre tomorrow (Saturday April 25), after winning the overall prize at the regional round of the competition in March.
The team of six 14-year-olds will, once more, be taking the robot they built, ‘Flo’ with them, named after the pioneering female geologist Florence Bascom. They will face a series of missions in a set time limit, such as collecting artifacts or operating submersibles.
This year’s competition theme is entitled ‘Unearthed’, which focuses on archaeology, history and cultural preservation. For the Innovation Challenge, Durham High students have come up with a claw-like robot, the Crobotic Crab, to investigate extreme terrains and reach the areas archaeologists cannot during digs. They will have to present the project to judges again on Saturday.
Carola Elin Kaizer, of Durham, said: “I like facing the challenges. The robot doesn’t exactly do what you to tell it do sometimes so overcoming the challenges has brought us all together.”
Ginny Ashcroft, of Bishop Auckland, said: “I’ve made more friends with different year groups doing the competition. I’ve recently started coding and I’m enjoying that and learning new things.”
Kate Gowan, of Lanchester, said: “I really enjoyed it last year. It challenged me and I’d never done coding before. It made me want to take part again this year.”
Robyn Morris, of Weardale, added: “I want to go into computer science and this competition has really helped me realise that.”
The competition, for students aged nine to 16, promotes STEM skills, programming, and teamwork while engaging young people in practical engineering tasks.
Head of Computing at Durham High, Rebecca Turner, won the Team Coach Award at the regional round of the competition at Gateshead.
Durham High School has three co-curricular robotics clubs – Innovation Club, a Prep School robotics club, the She Can Code Society, a Senior School club and InnovateHer Leaders, for students who feel confident with tech and want to lead on it in school.
Michelle Hill, headmistress at Durham High School, said: “It’s wonderful to see how so many girls are taking part in our robotics co-curricular clubs and are being inspired to pursue careers in computing. Success in this competition has ignited their passion for the subject further and we’ll be cheering them on this Saturday.”