Mrs M. Ridgeon,  Y10 Leader writes:

On Friday 15^th February, the last day of half term, Mr Green and I took nine students from Y10 to the 2019 UK Regional Finals for F1 in Schools UK competition.  The event was held in Orpington and run from 8.30am till 4.30pm.  The students, led by myself and Mr Green, had been working towards this for eight weeks, but most teams we were going up against had either been working on it for longer, or taken part in a final before.  Our nine students were part of two teams: QUILLION and PROJECT S.  With the help of Mr Bell, Mr Beevor, Miss Shah, Mr Christodoulou, Mr Schofield we were able to enter a car from each time into the competition, after many a failed 3D printing attempt!

Ella Griffin, 10B, Team Leader for Quillion writes:

The competition consisted of the marketing, enterprise and engineering of your own mini version of a F1 car. As a team we produced two portfolios one for engineering and one for enterprise, which would be judged on as well as the racing of the car. Throughout the day we were judged on each element of the project, which included a review of both portfolios, assessment of our pit display, the actual racing of our car and a verbal presentation. Due to not having a lot of experience in the competition we felt a little disheartened looking at our opponents pit displays and portfolios however, that didn’t last long and we saw it as a learning experience and were thrilled to win the award for our pit display due to our homemade wind tunnel and aerodynamic testing videos. Overall the day was more of a success than we expected and all of us would love to have another go as we now have a better understanding, which will hopefully push us to win.

“A fantastic experience which our team have learnt a lot from.” Archie Jennings 10K

“An enjoyable trip providing the team with both experience and ideas.” Louis Ross 10H

“It was very interesting to see the ideas of others and draw inspiration from their designs.” Joshua Gaydon 10A

Overall as leader of Year 10 I couldn’t have been more proud of them, I believe it is events like this which can inspire students into specific pathways and I can’t wait to return, hopefully with them and more students, later this calendar year.