27 February 2023
After lots of preparation, including building two robots, Year 10 students studying GCSE computer science (pictured) demonstrated excellent teamwork and logical thinking at the First LEGO League Sussex regional tournament on Thursday 9 February. Team Deroff was awarded the Rising Stars trophy for being a group of programmers and engineers to watch out for. One of the trophy winners, Manon, and Head of Computer Science Mr Rattle explain more below.
Manon D-C
After spending several months' worth of computer science lessons as well as lunchtime and afterschool sessions preparing for this competition, our two computer science teams were ready to head to Haywards Heath College with robots Deroff and Benoa for the competition against 15 other school teams. As we had built and coded them to do, our robots navigated a challenging obstacle course on the day. In addition, each team gave a presentation to the judges about different types of renewable energy, how they work, how they are implemented and their pros and cons, along with a proposal on how we, as a community, could improve our energy usage.
All of us received a medal and the Deroff team also received the Rising Stars trophy, built, aptly, from LEGO. This award was for the team the judges expect great things from in the future. Overall, it was challenging but a fun experience. Good luck to next time’s Year 10s!
Mr Tom Rattle, Head of Computer Science
All our students demonstrated fantastic teamwork, resilience and logical thinking at many levels in preparation for this event and should be rightfully proud of what they accomplished. Their programming abilities were tested with the robots, but they rose to the challenge and have shown an excellent understanding of coding concepts that will feature in their GCSE exams next year.
Woldingham’s teams for the 2023 competition comprised:
Benoa: Tiffany A-Y, Caitlin J, Loreen K, Katey L, Valentina M, Mollie N, Hannah S, Jovie W
Deroff: Zainab A, Manon D-C, Tabitha D, Anna H-C, Annabelle J, Olivia M V, Vara M, Fleur S, Sally W, Daisie W (most of whom are pictured below with their trophy)
