Students from Connah’s Quay and St. Richard Gwyn High Schools compete in Raytheon’s Quadcopter Challenge

Pupils from Connahs Quay High School and St. Richard Gwyn High School, were at Raytheon in Broughton on Thursday for the fifth annual Quadcopter Challenge regional final.

Over 80 teams of pupils and cadets participated in the UK-wide challenge, which teaches pupils how to build a fully-functioning, four-bladed, multi-rotor, remotely piloted air system — commonly known as a quadcopter.

Under the theme of ‘Technology around the World’ pupils then compete in a series of challenging flying tasks that test skills including accuracy, innovation and agility.

Each region across the UK was assigned a different country around which to theme their quadcopters and team members gave a 10-minute presentation to explain their design process and how they managed their project.

Raytheon STEM ambassadors mentored the teams throughout the competition, visiting schools, hosting workshops and guiding pupils on how to improve the aerodynamics and control of the quadcopters.

Following a close fought contest, a team from Ysgol Clywedog school in Wrexham was crowned winner, and will compete in the grand final in November.

Connahs Quay High School took second place with St. Richard Gwyn securing bronze. 

Raytheon’s Broughton STEM lead, Lee Edison said,

“Congratulations to Ysgol Clywedog school, and to all who took part. Like many other STEM ambassadors, I got involved to inspire the next generation of engineers, scientists, mathematicians and teachers.

It’s fantastic how this competition has grown from a pilot in Essex to a national competition with more than 400 students taking part each year.

Events like this are so important to encourage young people to take part and learn new skills, and to have the opportunity ask questions about future careers and jobs within the STEM field.”