Students from Writhlington School were winners at the annual Engineering Olympics held at the University of South Wales recently.

The competition involved teams from schools and colleges from across South Wales and the South West of England competing in three events – the Robo-Rally Challenge, the Platform Ejector Seat Challenge, and the Robot Programming Challenge.

The team from Writhlingon had a successful day, winning the Platform Ejector Seat Challenge, coming second in the Robot Programming Challenge, and third in the Robo-Rally Challenge.

Ruben Wharton, Oliver Blacklidge and Ben Mills, all 15, from Writhlington School, worked on the Robo-Rally Challenge. Ruben said: “We’ve enjoyed working on the robot and testing it on the track to see how accurate our programming is. I’m interested in electrical engineering so this has been a great challenge to get involved with – and the Engineering Olympics has been a lot more fun than

sitting in our classroom.”

Head of the School of Engineering at the University of South Wales, Dr Daphne O’Doherty, said: “The teams brought some wonderful and creative ideas with them to the Engineering Olympics this year, and it was great to see such a high standard of engineering ingenuity.

“Through events like this, we can give such young people a chance to see for themselves the wide range of engineering provision we have at the University

of South Wales, from aerospace and electrical/electronic to mechanical and  civil engineering and the built environment.

“We want the next generation of engineers to have first-hand experience of what it takes to succeed in their chosen career – and the Olympics offers them the chance to test their skills while having the support of our experts, who can point them in the right direction.”

Eight schools and colleges took part in the various challenges. They were: Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Ammanford, Cardiff and Vale College, Coleg Gwent in Newport, Merthyr College, Neath Port Talbot College, St Cyres in Penarth, Writhlington School in Bath, Bristol Grammar School, and Coleg y Cymoedd.