This week our Year 7 pupils enjoyed a whole day taking part in “Race for the Line”. This involved them finishing the final making of their rocket cars in their teams of four. The teams were in a final frenzy of making sure that designs had been added, wheels, axles, fins, spoilers etc. were all securely fixed. The car had to be intact going through the timing gate or it would be disqualified.
The day was set up in three session. Each group had their race session, a judging session and a session to start creating a report about their team and their cars journey and their success.
In the race session we were joined by officers from RAF Yeovilton; their role was to help set up and safely run the race. With 40 fired rockets there were some casualties; happily though it was only the cars. The weighing of the cars and the timing was carried out by a member from each team and our Ferndown Upper School helpers.
As the teams came forward to set off their car and to fire the rocket there were cheers and supportive sounds about the performance of each car. The cars performed well and most actually made it intact to the timing gate. The fastest car on the day was ‘Fire Flames’ and their speed – 41 mph or 17 m/s.
Judging the cars involved students describing the roles and design decisions that they had made to the rest of their class. Presentation skills and the ability to think fast on their feet were required by each team. The Reports that the students have started putting together will be considered and we will reward students in each tutor group for their reports, race performance, design skills and overall teamwork.
The day was thoroughly enjoyed by the pupils and enabled them to use and develop a wide range of STEM skills (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). The winning team (and possibly 2nd and 3rd) will now be looking at competing at the Regional Finals in Yeovilton where they will be expected to start again with a new rocket body towards a race on the same day against the best from other schools. We will look forward to reporting about their progress.
