EVC Spring 2026_magazine_AWdigital - Flipbook - Page 23
Inter-school competitions
“I love adding a new part or
a new function and seeing
why it works or fails.”
us about the robotics
Q Tell
club at NLCS.
skills
Q What
do they learn?
other benefits
Q What
have you seen?
popular; we have
A 60It’stoextremely
70 girls in the club at the
It connects with several
A subjects
on the curriculum;
NLCS is a girls’ school, and
A there
are very few sports where
moment, and at least 80 on the
waiting list. It’s called Vex Club
because the ultimate goal is to
enter the Vex Robotics World
Championship. It’s a great way
to extend learning beyond the
classroom.
computer science and coding, of
course, and the engineering brings
in maths and physics. It does help
to get the girls more interested in
STEM subjects; half of our students
are picking Design & Technology
for GCSE.
girls can compete equally with boys;
our teams compete against single-sex
teams as well as mixed teams. The
nice thing is that you don’t always
know who’s driving the robot, so you
can’t be intimidated or put off by
anyone.
But the best thing about Vex Club is
the life skills they learn. It teaches
them they can make mistakes and
it doesn’t matter. Even if we get
battered in the regionals one week,
we just go back and try again two
weeks later. The girls love working out
what needs to be changed, so they
can go back and have another go.
Also, it doesn’t end when you leave
school. There are girls from the first
club I started who’ve gone off and
become engineers and accountants
and other things, and they come
back and volunteer at all these
competitions. It’s a
real community.
Q
How does the
competition work?
girls have to design, build
A The
and code a robot that can
complete the set tasks, such as
throwing a ball through a target or
picking up objects. Then we take the
robot to compete with teams from
other schools every two weeks from
October to February. There are
regional heats, then a national
competition – which we’ve qualified
for again this year. Hopefully we’ll get
through to the world finals, which are
held in the USA in May.
OUR ADVISER SAYS:
Attending
tournaments at
other schools
should be treated
in the same way as sports
fixtures (e.g. rugby, netball
and dance competitions) in
your planning; check your
school policy. Participation in
competitions at public venues
(or attending shows like BETT)
are educational visits that
need a risk assessment and
extra planning.
The girls have to step outside their
usual bubble; they travel to lots
of different venues and they meet
people they wouldn’t otherwise
have met. They learn to talk to other
adults and students even if they don’t
have much in common – they can
always talk about robots! They learn
responsibility – the competitions
are fun, but they also know they’re
representing the school when
they’re there, so they have to
be aware of that.
Could your school compete in Ve
x?
To find out more about the Vex competition, go to:
→roboticseducation.org
THE EVC MAGAZINE – SPRING 2026
23
