Chesterfield students to compete in robot-building national championships

A Chesterfield-based academy is one step away from heading to America for a world tech competition after winning the top award at a regional tournament.
By The Newsroom
Published 4th Mar 2020, 13:10 BST
Updated 9th Mar 2020, 13:57 BST
Students at Outwood Academy Newbold are set to compete in the FIRST UK Tech Challenge national championships.Students at Outwood Academy Newbold are set to compete in the FIRST UK Tech Challenge national championships.
Students at Outwood Academy Newbold are set to compete in the FIRST UK Tech Challenge national championships.

Outwood Academy Newbold, in Highfield Lane, was awarded the Inspire Award at the FIRST UK Tech Challenge regional tournament at the National STEM Learning Centre at the University of York earlier this month.

The FIRST UK Tech Challenge is described as ‘way more than building robots’. Teams are challenged to design, build, programme and operate robots to compete in a head-to-head challenge in an alliance format.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The award win means that Outwood Academy Newbold will now go into a special pool of Inspire Award winners from around the country, to compete at the national championships for a place at the world first championships in America in April.

Steve Roberts, principal at Outwood Academy Newbold, said: “I am beyond proud of the students, and staff, for their tremendous success at the tournament in York. The team have all worked so hard on their robot for the challenge and we are all behind them for their appearance at the national championships in London. At Outwood we believe in putting students first to help them reach their potential and we believe this goes beyond the classroom. Events like this as an example of this and I am so proud of how all the students conducted themselves first and foremost. They were an absolute credit to the academy.

“We are really asking for any help that people can give when it comes to sponsorship.

“This is an incredible opportunity for the students, so we are appealing to any local engineering firms or IT companies to contact us to get involved with this and help the students.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Jacob Watkiss, a student at Outwood Academy Newbold, said: “We are so happy to have won the Inspire Award and to be heading to London for the national championships.

“The tournament in York, and the build up to it, have really just been a lot of fun. We have all supported each other and listened to each other, it’s been a real collaborative effort.”

The national championships will be held at London’s Olympic Park on March 27 and 28.

Related topics:ChesterfieldYork