Perse pupils win best portfolio trophy in Rotary Club Technology Challenge

8 Feb 2019

Twelve Year 9 pupils took part in the annual Rotary Club Technology Challenge at the Masonic Lodge in Cambridge, alongside 12 other teams from five local schools.

Each year a new engineering challenge is set, usually involving woodwork, electronics and application of the laws of physics. This year the challenge gave our students a taste of what engineering is like in the real world, where there are tight deadlines and limited budgets.

Pupils were required to design, construct and test a crane that needed to collect and return a derailed train carrying a container filled with hazardous chemicals. It had to have a pulley system to reduce the electric motor speed so that a magnetic lifting hook could be operated at a slow speed with a reversing switch. The crane also had to remain stable and have a means of controlling its operations and movement remotely from a distance of 800mm.

The students were required to produce a portfolio of their design work as well as design, build and test it all with a limited kit of materials in just three hours.

All the Perse pupils did extremely well, especially Perse Team 3 (Jemima Fung, Rufus Williams, Ethan Rigby and John Hansen) who won the ‘Best Portfolio’ trophy. Perse Team 1 (Emma Harris, Sulava Rai, Harry Knight and Luke Hobson) received a special mention by the judge for part of their design, while Perse Team 2 (Cara Hollis, Olivia Bogathy, Finbar Chambers and Finlay Lumsden) also did a fantastic job.

Perse engineering technology technician Serrita McAuley said: “Perse pupils worked really hard and came up with lots of brilliant ideas which worked very well. The judges were clearly impressed with their creativity and the thought that went into the different constructions. They also had a lot of fun and showed some great teamwork.”