Leamington pupils in USA for global finals of science competition

Pupils from a Leamington school have enjoyed an exciting trip to the United States of America after winning the national finals of a science competition.
Shrubland Street Primary School pupils at the Destination Imagination finals in Knoxville, USA.Shrubland Street Primary School pupils at the Destination Imagination finals in Knoxville, USA.
Shrubland Street Primary School pupils at the Destination Imagination finals in Knoxville, USA.

The children from Shrubland Street Primary School represented the UK in the Destination Imagination (DI) global finals in Knoxville, Tennessee, during the half term holiday, where they joined around 8,000 pupils from 30 countries.

The competition, sponsored by Ford, IBM, and Disney, set the children a ‘Pace of Change’ technical challenge to design and build a vehicle able to carry at least one team member across the presentation site multiple times.

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The pupils also had to change the vehicle propulsion system and the vehicle movement method during the presentation, create and present a story about change and create and present two extra elements that show off the team’s interests and skills.

The Shrubland Street team won the UK finals with their hovercraft, which can be seen at the team’s Twitter account, @phizlab_SSP

Headteacher David Farrar said: “Shrubland Street is immensely proud of the children and staff who represented the school and country at the DI global finals in Knoxville.

“The approach the school has developed in having dedicated subject specialists teach their passion has meant that teachers and pupils have been able to excel at what they love doing.

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“However, I don’t think any of us imagined this happening. A brilliant effort from all involved.”

Science teacher Amanda Poole said: “We really enjoyed getting to know children, teachers and parents from all over the world and have exchanged contact details to maintain relationships with some of the amazing people we met.

“It was fantastic to see all of the amazing solutions that children from around the world came up with for our challenge - as well as other hovercrafts there were slopes and sledges, ziplines and many other amazing vehicles I can’t wait to start our 2016-17 DI team and support a new group of children taking on a new challenge.”

To find out more about the DI global finals, visit www.globalfinals.org

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