The Cargonauts, the Heywood Prep Year 6 Lego robotics team, has been invited to represent the UK and The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) at the FIRST® LEGO® League World Festival in Houston, Texas, next month.
The FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge programme encourages 9-16 year olds to be creative and act like real-life engineers and technologists, as they work together to build LEGO® Education robots and solve real-world problems. Throughout the regional and national heats of the competition, the Cargonauts have particularly impressed the judges with their excellence in the FIRST® LEGO® League Core Values which include innovation, teamwork, and inclusion. The team is judged against these Core Values, as well as on their ‘innovation project’, robot design and robot game. To find out more about the competition, you can visit the IET webpage here.
The team will be led by Head of Steam, Mrs Evans, Head of Computer Science, Mr Carr and Headmistress, Mrs Rebecca Mitchell. Naturally, any trip we take children on seeks to make the most of every learning opportunity, and so whilst visiting Houston we will also be visiting Space Center Houston before the four-day competition begins!
“There is much preparation, practice and programming to be done ahead of the competition and we are grateful to our National Champion FLL Coaches, Mrs Evans and Mrs Carr, for the work they continue to put into such an important area of the curriculum for all children at Heywood,” said Mrs Mitchell. “We fly out to the US for the final week of the Easter holiday, so do keep an eye on the Heywood’s social media channels to keep up to date with the Cargonauts’ journey!”