Schools from across the South West took part in the South West regional final of the Create Sport Challenge at the At-Bristol science centre on 18th May.
By challenging teams of students to design and build a model of a community sports stadium, the competition aims to raise students’ awareness of careers in the civil engineering field and to promote the importance Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths subjects before students choose their GCSE options.
The winning team came from Penair School in Truro, with the Court Fields Community School team a close runner-up.
Since the launch of the 2012 competition in November last year, five teams of 11-14 year-olds from Court Fields Community School in Wellington, Penair School in Truro, Sunninghill Preparatory School in Dorset and Redland High School for Girls in Bristol have been working hard to design their very own unique sports stadia.
They have been assisted by ICE Ambassadors, engineers from firms across the South West who volunteer their time to support young people interested in engineering.
The teams presented their models and design posters to judges and submitted a written report. They were then assessed on structure, aesthetics, sustainability, community aspects, end users, legacy and safety.
The day also featured a ‘behind-the-scenes’ sustainability tour of At-Bristol for all those who attended and a CPD session for teachers run by Science Learning Centres South West.
The winning team from Penair School came up with a design for a ‘Ricochet Ball’ Stadium, their very own invented sport. They had created a model that showcased their laser-cutting skills and even included working flashing lights. They explained that they had chosen to site their design on the water near Plymouth, which would allow them to generate electricity using the tide.
The runners-up, from Court Fields Community School, created an eye-catching wave shaped design and planned to use solar panels to generate electricity.
Trish Johnson, ICE South West Regional Director, said: “The standard of entries into this year’s competition was extremely high, and I have been impressed by the various activities that the students have undertaken to get the most out of the experience, from water drainage experiments to laser-cutting work and visits to existing stadia.
It was extremely difficult to pick a winner, but the judges (Richard Hill of Capita Symonds, Chris Ward of The Engineering Development Trust and myself) finally chose the Ricochet Ball Stadium as the winner because it had a certain wow-factor. The level of detail that had been included was deserving of first-prize.
The ambassadors that worked with the teams have clearly given a lot of time to support them and some even made it along to the final, so I would like to thank them once again for their support of an extremely worthwhile project.”
The winning team was presented with a digital camera with HD movie capability, plus merchandise kindly donated by Two Seasons in Bristol. Second prize was a different model of camera featuring an easy web upload function, plus school bags from Two Seasons. All teams that took part also received a goody bag.