Four of our Year 10 students recently represented the school at the Young Engineers and Scientists of Derbyshire: Design Challenge 2026, held at the University of Derby.
This year’s challenge, “Is It Coming Home?”, tasked teams with designing, building and testing a contraption capable of scoring goals. Working through a real engineering design process, students first developed sketches and plans before constructing their final design and presenting it to a panel of judges.
Adding to the challenge, each team was given a limited budget and had to carefully manage their spending by purchasing the materials needed to build their design. This encouraged students to think strategically, balancing cost with performance while making informed engineering decisions.
Throughout the day, students also had the opportunity to work alongside and seek advice from professionals representing a range of engineering companies. Their guidance helped teams refine their ideas, overcome design challenges and gain a valuable insight into engineering careers and industry practices.
The competition concluded with each team demonstrating their final design in front of judges, fellow competitors and spectators, showcasing not only their engineering skills but also their creativity, resilience and teamwork.
We are incredibly proud of how our students represented the school, embracing every aspect of the challenge with enthusiasm, determination and professionalism. A fantastic day of STEM learning and an inspiring experience for our future engineers!
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