Flintshire pupils gear up for Raytheon Quadcopter Challenge national final

Pupils from a high school in Flintshire are gearing up to take part in the national finals of the Quadcopter Challenge, after successfully making it through the regional heats.

The challenge encourages school children aged 13-14 to use their science and maths skills to design a fully four-bladed, remotely piloted air systems – commonly known as a quadcopter.

Broughton based employer Raytheon Technologies has held the annual competition for 7 years.

It hopes to inspire and attract students to STEM based careers by showing them the practical applications of science.

This year’s theme, ‘Mission to Mars’, will see pupils asked to push the limits on current Quadcopter designs, tasked with thinking of creative ideas to overcome the challenging Martian conditions.

Following endless Zoom lessons and months out of the classroom, pupils from Connah’s Quay High School are relishing the opportunity to get hands on in building their quadcopter.

Chris Jenner, teacher at the school said: “I was very impressed with how the learners have worked together throughout the competition.”

“Their dedication and motivation were exemplary, demonstrating the range of new skills that they have all learnt.”

“They have developed their engineering skills through analysis and problem solving activities and it was great to observe how their confidence has grown whilst delivering their presentation.”

“The team are now looking forward to the National Final and will strive to build on their Regional Final success”

The judges, who have a wide range of backgrounds including engineering, coding and space exploration, will assess the submissions on how well suited they are to navigating conditions on Mars.

The winning team will be announced via a virtual ceremony before they are given the chance to fly their designs when government and safety guidelines permit it.

The UK National Final for this flagship STEM programme will be held virtually and will provide an exciting day of competition for all attending participants.

The winning team will be given a chance to fly their designs when government and safety guidelines permit it.

Rosie Lawrence, STEM ambassador for Raytheon Broughton said: “After a year defined by online learning and isolation, building Quadcopters has finally given pupils a practical opportunity to put their STEM skills to the test.”

“We chose the theme of space this year as we are in the middle of a new ‘space race,’ with countries like the UAE, Japan and the UK now becoming major players in the exploration of outer space.”

“We hope that through the Quadcopter Challenge, we can inspire the next generation of STEM leaders and innovators”.