Students and teachers went head to head at Nelson and Colne College Sixth Form in the 2014 Rotary Technology Tournament, to celebrate and encourage design, science and engineering ability in young people.
On Friday 14th March, Nelson and Colne College Sixth Form hosted the Rotary BAE Systems Technology Tournament 2014. Schools and colleges from across Pendle flocked to the College to participate, with participants ranging from 11 year old students to working adults.
Nelson and Colne College Sixth Form has successfully hosted Rotary Technology Tournaments for several years. The College has an excellent reputation with local and regional companies for developing the next generation of engineers, and so makes an excellent setting for a Tournament that celebrates exactly this in the next generation.
Rotary is a worldwide fellowship of business and professional people united in providing voluntary services, helping those in need and working towards world understanding and peace. The Rotary Technology Tournaments gather together individuals from each area to devise and build a solution to an unseen technical task. This year, the task was to craft something from the materials provided that could take a tennis ball out of a box and place it in the required area.
The participants were divided into three categories, which affected their task to varying degrees. The Foundation Task, for students in Key Stage 3 (aged between 11 and 14), was the simplest; the Intermediate Task, for students in Key Stage 4 (aged between 14 and 16), moderately more difficult; and the Advanced Task, for students in Key Stage 5 (aged 16+) and for any participating adults, was the most difficult.
There were 42 teams in attendance at Nelson and Colne College Sixth Form. Most of the teams were made up of four participants, though some had only three. Participants came from a wide variety of local schools and colleges: Blessed Trinity RC College, Burnley College, Colne Primet Academy, Fearns Community Sports College, Hameldon Community College, Haslingden High School, Marsden Heights Community College, Nelson and Colne College Sixth Form, Pendle Vale College, Ss John Fisher and Thomas More RC High School, and Unity College.
Participants had from 9.40am to 2pm to design and construct their creation. The task required them to work against the clock, to have good communication and organisation skills, and to be able to show the development of their task solution in a design portfolio. At the end of the day, participants had to present a working model of their solution to be tested and judged against competing teams.
Prizes were presented by Councillor Smith Alan Benson, Mayor of Pendle for 2013-2014. Winners and runners-up in the three categories of Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced received certificates and books.
In the Foundation category, the winner was Team 42: Pendle Vale College, and the runner-up was a tie between Team 3: Blessed Trinity RC College and Team 5: Marsden Heights Community College.
In the Intermediate category, the winner was Team 15: Ss John Fisher and Thomas More RC High School and the runner-up was Team 23: Marsden Heights Community College.
In the Advanced category, the winner was Team 30: Haslingden High School and the runner-up was Team 1: Nelson and Colne College Sixth Form.
The winner of the staff teams was the “Top Guns” from Nelson and Colne College Sixth Form.
District 1190’s Area Organiser Geoff Atkins said, “It was fantastic to come to the College today. Everyone has done a fantastic job!”
