Students take part in VEX Robotics Regional Finals

News - Jan 22

Last week, students from Years 11, 12 and 13 took part in the VEX Robotics Regional Finals, which took place in Oxfordshire. This is because so few teams in our geographical locality of the South West participate in this excellent competition, meaning that we are placed in the South East Finals. Our aim at Colyton Grammar School is to enable our students to flourish and thrive in the next steps, at university, in the workplace and in their wider lives. It is so important that the ability to apply academic knowledge in work based and problem-solving ways is explored in school, and we are delighted that Mr Cronk and other school leaders continually seek ways to enter these national events, enhancing student experiences. Indeed, this school values this work so highly that we are encouraging more schools in our area to join us.  

Regarding the finals themselves, whilst we did not win, the teams did very well in what was always going to be a very tough regional. There were two teams from Stowe, three from Radley College and two from King Henry the VIII school from Coventry. These schools are all independent fee-paying schools, who have been to the World Finals in the past years. These were some of the top teams in the world! 

In spite of this, our day started in perfect form with all three of our teams winning their first match. Our Year 13 team finished third in the qualifiers, on equal win points to second place – having only dropped one match. Year 12 finished sixth and Year 11 12th (out of 18 teams). This was the first competition for the Year 11 team, and they had almost given up in December, so a good result for them.  

After selecting alliances for the elimination matches, the Year 11s narrowly lost in the quarter-finals 80-77. The Year 12 team went out in the semi-finals to the eventual winners. The final was an alliance of our Year 13 team and a team from Radley against an alliance of a team from Stowe and the other Radley team. It was a hard-fought final with the Stowe-Radley alliance winning 141-103.  

Well done to everyone for taking part, we are very proud of your achievements. Congratulations to Benedict O, Reece T, Will R, Peter M, Mara D, Daniel X, Benjamin K, Emma R, William M, Tejas P, Samuel K, George S, Sasha G, Charlie D, Donald C, Freddie S and Luke M.