Girls show the way in Peterborough LEGO tournament

A global competition involving over 310,000 young people (in 38,800 teams), from across 100 countries, FIRST® LEGO® League aims to develop children’s abilities and interest in STEM, alongside a wide range of personal and future career skills. Whirlpool Corporation has fully funded the Peterborough tournament and this included sponsoring 14 local primary school teams to participate and equipping them with a brand-new LEGO SPIKE Prime Robot too.

The theme of this year’s FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge, RePLAY, focused on the importance of play and being more active. Teams were challenged to compete across the four key components: Robot Game, Robot Design, Core Values and the Innovation Project.

The tournament took place virtually, with teams submitting their live matches via recordings throughout the day, to be carefully adjudicated by a panel of industry judges. The teams, made up of primary school children aged 9 – 11 and led by either a member of school staff or a parent, had all committed months of time and preparation to the challenge.

Teams from Lime Watergall Academy, Buckden Academy, Bishop Creighton Academy and Longthorpe Primary School also took home additional prizes.

As the winners of the Champion’s Award, Lightning LEGO Girls from Elton Primary School, as well as second place winners, Team Elton Spike, also from Elton Primary School, will now progress to the IET FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge England and Wales Final, which will be taking place virtually on July 2. As part of the prize, the teams have also been invited for a tour and hands-on experience of Whirlpool’s UK headquarters in Peterborough, and Elton Primary School will also be gifted £1,000 worth of Whirlpool appliances to be used in the school.

Whirlpool Corporation’s Public Affairs Director, Ian Moverley, commented: “This year’s Peterborough teams displayed the fantastic levels of creativity, teamwork and organisation that come hand in hand with these tournaments. I’m so glad we were able to build on the successes of last year’s competition and run the Peterborough tournament for a second time – albeit virtually! Thank you to all of the schools’ team coaches for dedicating their time to ensure the children could take part, and of course to all of the teams themselves for their hard work, alongside our wonderful volunteers. We hope to see you all next year!”

Registration for the FIRST® LEGO® League 2021-22 season is now open with the new theme ‘Cargo Connect’. Teams can be made up of school groups, scout groups, or simply be a team of friends, but will need at least two adult coaches. For more information please visit: https://education.theiet.org/first-lego-league-programmes/register/