Robot builders’ school trip to the States leaves them “buzzing”

Pictured from left to right are: Teacher Abigail Stoner, Rhys Richards, Kristian Eaves, Alfie Bashforth and IT technician Niels Puttemans.

The All Stars from Brampton Ellis Primary School flew the flag for their school, town and country the map at the Vex IQ Worlds Challenge event in Kentucky.

Accompanied by teacher Abigail Stoner and IT technician Niels Puttemans, the four-strong team of Matthew Chambers, Kristian Eaves, Rhys Richards and Alfie Bashforth just below halfway in the league table of teams from around the world.

Nicola McMullen, community project manager for the James Montgomery Academy Trust, which runs Brampton Ellis, said: “This was a fantastic result considering they only started in September and were the first UK primary team to make it this far in the finals.

“It was a life changing experience for the full team.

“They all had an amazing time and returned absolutely buzzing.“We are very proud of our young team and they now have aspirations to become engineers of our future.”

The team, then including classmate Lillie Travers, booked their place by taking the Elementary School Excellence Award in the north-eastern regional challenge at Wath Comprehensive School in February.

A crowdfunding page was launched to help pay for T-shirts, activity packs to keep the children entertained on their long journey, cameras, journals and even a large Union Flag.

Another team from Brampton Ellis known as the Robot Wolves won the regional final and went on to last weeks’ national final, where they finished 28th out of 40.