A chance to build, to lead and to shine

The whole of Year 5 enjoyed a fantastic STEM day last week, when they met with their contemporaries from QEH to compete in our annual Robotics day.

This is always an excellent opportunity for the two schools to get together and practice their robot-building skills, as they program Lego Mindstorm robots to perform simple missions and then take part in in the ultimate challenge.

Teamwork is key. There were 19 teams in total, 10 girls’ and 9 boys’ teams, all competing against each other in what is always a fast-paced and challenging day. It was fascinating for us to watch the problem solving, leadership and resilience that our girls showed as they worked together to complete the tasks.

As we headed into the final challenge, six teams were within 20 points of each other - three from QEH and three from Redmaids’ High.

However, as the final timer ran down the overall winners were a Redmaids’ High team that consisted of Sophia.B, Millie.P and Lili.Walker. Well done girls!

QEH took 2nd and 3rd place.

Over the years, our girls’ robotics teams have won numerous regional Lego League competitions and progressed through to national finals. When competing at this level, they are always surprised to find they are usually the only all-girls team there.

We’re not, because we don’t see STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) as a gender-based subject. We see it for what it is  – a chance for our girls to build, to lead and to shine.