Bright sparks from Cathays High School have scored success in a competition at Cardiff University’s School of Engineering.
A team of six Year 8 pupils entered the Faraday Challenge at the university, competing against students from other high schools in the Cardiff and surrounding area. The event was one of 50 Faraday engineering challenge days involving pupils from 300 schools across the UK, organised by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).
Amber Arnold, Gethin Jones, Jamal Mohamed, Catherine Nicholls, Tejan Sesay and Jodie Voss tackled the challenge brief to develop a remotely-controlled surgical instrument that would allow surgeons to operate on their patients without actually touching them.
Marks were awarded for the initial designs, the video log, teamwork and the final challenge. The challenge organisers were extremely impressed with all the teams’ efforts, praising the high scores of the top three schools in Cardiff and the excellent engineering work from all involved.
The Cathays team won with a score of 155 out of possible 175 and were presented with a glass trophy which is now on display in the school’s reception area, and £15 worth of iTunes vouchers for each team member.
Executive Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, Cllr Freda Salway, said: “Many congratulations to the team of young engineers from Cathays High School. The Faraday Challenge sounds like an extremely interesting event and it’s good to hear that the competition in Cardiff was of such a high standard.”
Design and Technology teacher, Mrs Karan Durrant, said: “I knew that these pupils had what it takes to win this challenge. They went about the day in an organised and mature manner and did themselves and their school proud. Most importantly though, these pupils were introduced to engineering and how much it can affect life in the real world.”
