Budding North Wales engineers put their skills to the test

Teams of aspiring engineers from across North Wales competed against the clock to design and build a weight-powered vehicle at a recent Rotary Technology Tournament.

Flint High School winners of the advanced task and overall best team trophy, Louise Goldsmith, Stephen Postle and Kelsie Roberts

The Airbus sponsored tournament featured 20 teams of students from six schools who tackled the task of designing a self-propelled vehicle.

Each team was provided with an identical selection of vehicle components and had to use their engineering ingenuity to create a self-propelled vehicle capable of driving up a steep gradient.

The task was set by the event judges the Rotary Club of Flint and Holywell who designed the tournament for students studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects, to give them an opportunity to put their knowledge into practice.

The tournament was open to Key Stage 3 students competing at foundation level, Key Stage 4 at intermediate level and Key Stage 5 at the advanced level, with the gradient increasing steadily at each level.

Gary Griffiths, Head of Early Careers for Airbus in the UK said,

“It’s great to see young people rising to the sort of challenges they would face should they pursue careers in engineering.

“This activity fits into the Airbus Early Careers strategy encouraging young people to think about STEM subjects and potentially look at careers in engineering.”

This year the tournament enjoyed its biggest turn out with six schools represented by more than 80 students in total. The competing schools were tournament hosts Flint High School, St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School, Mold Alun School, Connah’s Quay High School, Denbigh High School and Ysgol Glan Clwyd from St. Asaph. 

Foundation winners Connah’s Quay High School, Jake Barratt, Sian Duckworth, Megan Woodward and Georgia Sheldon

Event organiser Steve Blakesley, from the Rotary Club of Flint and Holywell said,

“I was very pleased that so many local schools took up the challenge. I’d like to thank the Rotary Club of Mold who played a key role in providing the judging panel – with a broad range of engineering and business skills to allow them to pick a deserving winner.”

This year’s winner of the advanced task and overall best team trophy was Flint High School, the intermediate task was won by Mold Alun High School and foundation task winners were Connah’s Quay High School.