A student robotics team from Pelton Community Primary School has secured a place in the World Robotics Championship in Dallas Texas, this May.
The team is currently fundraising for the trip and featured on BBC Radio Newcastle Breakfast Show with Matt Bailey.
The Pelton Piranhas
Pelton’s VEX IQ Robotics journey began in September 2021 when the students were introduced to VEX IQ by Michael Nelson, Design and Technology Consultant, and then granted a VEX IQ kit from the Nissan Skills Foundation and the Reece Foundation. That academic year a Pelton Robotics Team of Year 5 and 6 children was created. The team met weekly during an after-school club to build ‘Clawbot’ ready for the 2021-22 regional competition at Nissan.
The team attended the competition in March 2022 and came 2nd place, earning them a spot in the National Championships. Unfortunately, due to the short time frame between the two, the team couldn’t attend.
In September 2022 the school created a new team named the Pelton Piranhas. During an after-school club, the team of seven (boys and girls from Year 5 and 6) worked tirelessly to modify their robot to play the new 2022-23 VEX IQ game, Slapshot.
STEM Skills
Children practised driving the robot with the controller and used their coding skills to program the robot to play the game through coding alone. The club provides children with the opportunity to develop skills in STEM, teamwork, communication, determination, perseverance and resilience. The Pelton Piranhas competed in the regional event at Nissan in January 2023 and came 2nd place in the Skills Challenge and 2nd place in the Teamwork Challenge. This strong performance ensured that the team qualified for the National Championships.
The National Championships took place in Telford on 5th and 6th of March and the team were able to attend due to generous sponsorship from Northumbrian Water and their local MP Kevan Jones. Over the two days, the team performed excellently at the National Championships and finished the competition in 2nd place for the Teamwork Challenge.
Coming 2nd in the Teamwork Challenge at the Nationals has ensured that Pelton are one of the few primary schools in the UK, and the first ever from County Durham, who have been invited to compete in the 3-day VEX IQ World Championships in Dallas in May.
Dallas Legacy
The team are now looking for funding for their trip to Dallas and have done a wonderful job so far in securing sponsorships. The school is extremely proud of the achievements of the students. Pelton school commented:
“Our goal beyond the World Championships is to create a ‘Dallas Legacy’ by enthusing children with a ‘can do’ attitude and providing all children in school with a strong foundation in STEM learning. Not only to support their learning in all subjects but also to ensure that when they can become part of the Year 5 and 6 team, they have the prior knowledge to help them to succeed. Any extra funding not spent on the Dallas trip will be used across the Federation to buy VEX GO kits (£179 each) for KS2 and VEX 123 kits (£109 each) for KS1. Finally, we hope to purchase another VEX IQ kit (£499) so we can have two teams for the 2023-2024 VEX IQ Competition, giving more children the opportunity to participate in our oversubscribed robotics club. We firmly believe in the importance of giving children the opportunity to develop STEM skills through robotics. Please help us by sharing our message far and wide!”
Speaking to BBC Radio Newcastle, Karen Telfer, Head Teacher at Pelton added:
“We are extremely proud of our children and the staff. They have worked incredibly hard over the last few weeks to build it to go into the competitions and it’s unbelievable that we are going to Dallas in a few weeks time.”
Chris Zarraga, Director of Schools North East said:
“Congratulations to the Pelton Piranhas and the staff supporting this young team. We are looking forward to cheering for you all during the Dallas competition. It’s great to see a local school creating a legacy in STEM and providing the environment for these bright students to thrive. Next step: global conquest!”
Pelton Community Primary School is a Schools North East Partner School. If you’d like to find out more about our Partner School Programme click here.
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