NSCG Newcastle College hosts annual FIRST® LEGO® League tournament

Students came from across Staffordshire, Cheshire, Shropshire, Derbyshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and West Yorkshire, to put their robotic skills to the test in the annual FIRST® LEGO® League regional tournament hosted by NSCG’s Newcastle College.

The College welcomed 16 teams from schools including, Christ Church Academy, Endon Hall Primary and Madeley Academy as they took part in this year’s challenge.

Every year, FIRST® LEGO® League releases a new challenge based on a real-world, scientific theme with this year’s teams tasked in exploring solutions to improve energy sources and present their research, designs and accompanying information to a judging panel on the day of the tournament. Teams were also required to build and programme a robot which took part in a range of timed missions with scores awarded for project innovation, robot design and core values.

Megan Clayton, LEGO Coordinator at Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group (NSCG) said: “We were delighted to welcome and host so many fantastic teams to take part in this year’s FIRST® LEGO® League tournament. This is the College’s eighth year hosting the event and year-on-year we are blown away by the creativity, design and problem-solving techniques the teams come up with.

“The FIRST® programme is a great way to make a lasting impression and engage students with STEM and engineering design processes as well as being incredibly fun so we hope to see many teams return next year.”

The competition is designed to inspire students to pursue STEM-based careers as well as building important life skills and practical, hands on experience that they can use throughout their studies and in the future.

Team CyberBytes from Royal Grammar School Worcester were crowned this year’s regional tournament Champions and will now go on to represent the region in the UK and Ireland final in Harrogate this April.

2024 FIRST® LEGO® League Winners

Coach/Mentor Winner – Mr Coulson from Christ Church Academy (Team Artech)
Judges Perseverance Award Winner – Team Ctrl-Alt-Elite from Manor Croft Academy
Judges Aspiring Award – Team The Darton Diamonds from Darton Academy
Robot Performance Award – Team Abstract Circus StARs from ELFInspire NJB
Core Values Award – Team Arty Axolotls from ELFInspire NJB ???
Robot Design Award – Team C.A.T from ELFInspire NJB
Innovation Project Award – MYZ Strong Sisters
Champions Award – Team CyberBytes from Royal Grammar School Worcester

LEGO® Education Innovation Studio sessions are available at book at both Newcastle and Stafford sites for primary and secondary school students during term time. To book your group in, contact Megan Clayton e: megan.clayton@nscg.ac.uk or tel: 01782 254347