Junior Technology Tournament 2019

The Rotary Club of Royal Wootton Bassett & District went along to Lyneham Primary School recently at the invitation of Headteacher John Read to run the Rotary Junior Technology Tournament, which was demonstrated at a ‘Big Bang’ fair at the NEC, the UK’s largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths for young people.

The tournaments are a challenging and enjoyable way for young people to enrich their STEM (Science, Technology and Engineering) learning. They are designed for 8 – 11 year olds, and in partnership with The Rochester Bridge Trust, Rotary provide an interesting and fun experience that tests the knowledge, innovation, team working and problem solving skills of the participants. The tournaments were recently granted a CREST (Creativity in Science and Technology) award by the British Science Association.

The children working in teams of four have to solve an interactive technology task and are required to design, model and build a solution with materials such as paper, card, clothes pegs, string and elastic rubber bands, using a premade wooden base, all supplied by Rotary free of charge.

At Lyneham Primary School the task was to build a scale model of a bridge that would enable a squirrel to cross a pathway in an environmentally friendly setting. The success of the children was ably demonstrated at the end of the tournament when, among the tests to find a winning team, a hairdryer was used to see whether the model squirrel would be blown off the bridge in a gale!

The whole of year 5 at Lyneham Primary (34 children) took part. They were all fully engaged and enthusiastic throughout the day and the budding engineers set a high standard with their bridge building solutions. Gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded to the top three teams, which were presented by the Chair of School Governors, Anthony Jones. All the children received a Certificate of Participation.

The enjoyment was amply shown by some of the amusing names the children had selected for themselves such as ‘Cheesy Chickens’, ‘Bob the Builders’, and ‘Billy Bridge Builders’!

Headteacher John Read said ‘the children gained a lot from the day and we would love the Rotary Club to visit us again.’
Team leader Rotarian Richard Everitt, who was accompanied by 6 Rotarians from the club, said ‘it was very rewarding to see all the children having such fun and being so involved in a very friendly and competitive way.’