Update From the John Warner School
Secondary School Robotics
On Saturday 28th September, the John Warner school welcomed 24 teams from 14 schools to the first VEX Robotics regional event of the season. This term, students have been asked to design, build and programme an 18” cube robot that can gather plastic rings and place them on a range of mobile and fixed goals inside a 12-foot squared arena. Teams of two, randomly selected robots, compete against two opposing robots in a 2-minute match up to see who can score the most coloured rings. At the end of the match, teams are encouraged to elevate their robot on a specifically designed climbing frame to gain additional points.
The day was full of excitement with John Warner teams making it though to the semi finals and receiving commendations on the design of their robots.
Ex-students and volunteers are the back bone of our event, giving up their Saturday to give back to the team. Most are now in engineering careers or studying related courses
The teams have continued to impress this season, twice taking home the judges award and reaching the final of the latest competition. In the new year, teams will have the opportunity to compete at Stowe and our own home competition on the 12th February, to which all Founders are very welcome to attend.
Thanks to the generous support of the worshipful Company of Founders, we have been able to introduce eight new students to the world of engineering in year 7 and 8, as well as all the year 6 students participating in the Primary robotics. The enthusiasm of the younger students is always welcome and it is great to see the older student’s taking them under the wing, offering advice and a friendly word of advice at competitions. In their breakthrough tournament, the year 7 managed to be in the top three qualification places at a very large Coventry competition with 36 teams competing, only to have their inexperience let them down when the paired with a less than impressive robot from another school! Still, it was a great experience and at the following competition they won a judge’s award for their interview and log book.
The season wraps in late February when we hope to take six teams to the UK National finals in Telford, with the opportunity to qualify for the VEX World Championships in Texas, USA. All but one team of our eight teams currently have an automatic qualification place.
MBDA Robot rumble
Another exciting opportunity launched in November. Each year MBDA Stevenage host the Robot Rumble Scheme to local and surrounding schools. The aim of this scheme is to allow a team to design, build and code your own robot to compete in the VEX V5 Robotics event! MBDA will be supporting the team by providing a V5 system, designed for students aged 14+. It will include everything they need to design, build, and test a robot that can compete in multiple competitions throughout the school year.
MBDA will provide a mentoring team formed of MBDA staff who are ready to support you and your team on this scheme. They will pay for the team’s registration fee to join VEX Robotics for this season in order to compete at as many events as they like. The scheme will run from September/October 2024 to March 2025. The VEX national qualifier event for the MBDA teams will be held around January with the winning team given the chance to go to Nationals in march at the Telford international centre!
Primary robotics club
A fresh cohort of 16 year 6 students have taken up the challenge of designing and building a robot to fulfil this year’s challenge, rapid relay. This time around, the students have been asked to create a much more interactive robot which is capable of shooting 150mm fabric balls through a number of goals placed at the end of a 2 meter runway. Once scored, students themselves must return the ball to the starting position before making a further attempt at scoring. Students and their robot will have just 1 minute to score as many goals as possible.
During the Monday after school club at Roselands, the students have so far learned how to make a basic chassis and what it means to program and control a robot. They will have the chance to test their building and driving skills against other teams from Bedford School, St Edmunds College and Presdales schools in mid-March. Last year, the Roselands students managed to come away as the top team despite the fact that the other competitors were mainly year 8 students. They will be looking to repeat this success again.
Making rapid progress learning how to construct a rolling chassis before motorising and programming their designs
Warner lecture, Founders scholars
Every year the Worshipful Company of Founders invite John warner students to the Robert Warner lecture at their headquarters in London’s Cloth Fair. This year’s lecture was given by Dr Hayaatun Sillem CBE, current CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering. She has been named as one of the ‘Inspiring 50’ women in tech in Europe and one of the most influential women in both UK engineering and UK tech. She was made a CBE for services to International Engineering in 2019. Hayaatun spoke about the challenges we face with modern technology and the impact of this on society before opening the floor to questions. Our students asked her a wide range of fascinating questions including how AI is going to affect their future and how women can be successful in a male dominated environment.
New scholars’ applications
Following on from the lecture, we have three new applicants who are studying Engineering that are hoping to be successful in applying for this year’s scholarship. Students who are successful will receive a grant to spend on experiences to enhance their knowledge of engineering, tutoring and training, educational supplies such as 3D printers, scientific calculators and software and will have opportunities to engage with younger students in projects such as the industrial cadets alongside graduates from GSK in Ware.
The aspiring students were tasked with writing a out their application alongside a covering letter, detailing their ambitions as an engineer, their hobbies and their passion for following a career in the subject. They were then subject to a gruelling interview with Mr David Kennedy, who put them through their paces before they could be considered for the privilege of becoming a Founder’s scholar.
The three successful applicants are Jack Ayres, Ethan Whitmore and Harrison Lang. All three students are currently studying Engineering at the John warner school and are looking at pursuing careers in engineering.
Industrial cadets
As part of our on-going commitment to engineering careers, we have teamed up with GSK in Ware to offer a select number of students the opportunity to gain a Bronze certificate as an industrial engineer! Students will take part in a 12-week project with a teacher and industry mentor. They will then produce a final written report, model and presentation. At the end of the project, pupils will take part in an online virtual assessment with a panel of STEM assessors. Pupils will be invited to a Celebration Event at Cambridge University, where they will be awarded their Bronze Industrial Cadet certificates and badges.
Inspired by its Patron, His Majesty, King Charles III in Teesside, Industrial Cadets is a widely recognised, accredited awards scheme increasing diversity and inspiring young people through industry-based experiences to become part of the workforce of the future. This programme is a great opportunity for STEM enthused students to get a real taste of project management, working as a team and gaining a unique insight into how a STEM company works. To further develop the Worshipful Company of Founders Scholarship program within the John Warner School, this year’s successful scholars will be in charge of running the lunchtime and after school sessions with the younger student’s and will be the main contact point for them. This will give the scholars a great insight in to how to run a STEM activity, give them access to Engineering careers in GSK and most important, be part of a fun and engaging extra-curricular activity!
Students on an engineering experience day at GSK, ware, having taken part in the industrial cadet’s student program
ICE visit the John Warner School
The institute of civil engineers is one of the country’s oldest institutions, helping to guide students into careers relating to civil engineering. With 97,000 members worldwide, the ICE exists to improve lives by ensuring the world has the engineering capacity and infrastructure systems it needs to enable our planet and our people to thrive. On the 7th October, Kathryn Denham-Maccioni visited the school to speak to a select group of year 11 students about careers in civil engineering. Students were shown through a new website designed to engage young people in future careers. The students then had the opportunity to feedback what they thought about the website and how well it convinced them that a career in engineering was rewarding.
Using the feedback from the students, the careers website was then updated using much of the information and testing that our students provided. Two weeks later, a new group of students accessed the website remotely whilst being observed by Kat. It was pleasing to see many of the changes directly influence by the feedback from our students, making a much smoother and informative platform for students to learn about careers in civil engineering. The activity will go live on the ICE website sometime in the new year.
As a thank you, Kathryn has supplied the school with several books on Civil Engineering!
Coming up…
· 21st January Primary practice day
· 1st February Primary Robotics at St Christopher’s, Letchworth
· 12th February “I love Robots” at the John Warner School
· VEX UK National Finals
· IMECHE young women in STEM
· Technology Tournament
· Primary Robotics competition
· 1st July VEX EP event
Impact
· 57 students at elementary (8 to 11 years old) /middle school level participating in VEX IQ across five schools (Roselands, Bedford, St Edmunds, Heron Hall, Presdales). The age of students is between 10 and 13 years old. The gender split is approximately 60/40
· 8 new students to robotics club in year 7 and 8
· 5 middle school V5 teams aged 11 to 14 years old. Very heavily boy orientated so we will be working on promoting this to year 7-9 girls
· 3 high school V5 teams aged 15 and above, participate at high school level, 28 students with a gender mix of 30/70. Students gain confidence and experience alongside mechanical, electrical and programming skills
· 8 Founders scholars across year 12 and 13 who are given opportunities to attend Founders events such as the Warner lecture, Whitechapel lecture and others. They have funding to help them in their studies through resources, experiences and tutoring.