Llantwit Major School Win Wales & Ireland Regional Final of Toyota Technology Challenge

A team of pupils from  Llantwit Major School were successful in securing a place in the regional final of the Toyota Technology Challenge (TTC), where they competed to win  £1,000 in cash for the school and an action-packed adventure holiday in Austria! This followed success at the Welsh final on Wednesday 22nd April 2009, where they received a prize of £250.

The team, named 'Insert Name Here' (Insert Name Here, really is the name of the team!) consisted of Tom Parker Dan Burrows and Jordon Boswell.

The TTC, developed by Toyota Manufacturing UK in partnership with educational supplier Rapid, aims to stimulate the interest of young students in technology and engineering, whilst encouraging pupils to consider the environment and the potential use of recycled materials.

Targeted at Key Stage 3 & 4 students, pupils are challenged to design and build an environmentally friendly model vehicle using either solar power, to race on a straight track, or PIC microcontroller technology to guide their vehicles to avoid obstacles on a track. 

Now in its fifth year as a national challenge, the TTC continues to be popular with schools, providing a fun and affordable practical challenge to support classroom learning.  Over 14,000 pupils from have participated in the 2008/9 challenge, with 417 schools registering across the UK.

Once registered into the competition, teams received a free kit from Rapid with all the components necessary to build a vehicle; they then make modifications to earn more marks in the competition by making their vehicle more environmentally friendly, improving their vehicle performance and creating their own team identity.

During February, schools submitted a project folder to enter stage one of the competition.  The teams judged to have submitted the best project folders have been invited to progress to the regional final.

Mr Stephens, Design Technology Teacher  said: “ we are very proud of the students who have worked incredibly hard to achieve such a high standard.”

Karen Bradley, Communications & External Affairs Manager, Toyota Manufacturing UK, said: “Once again the standard has been exceptionally high and we have been impressed by the quality of entries of all participating schools and the efforts of the pupils.  We hope that this experience will inspire pupils to consider careers in engineering and manufacturing in the future.”

Kate Rushworth, Education Commercial Manager of Rapid, said: “We are proud to partner Toyota again in the fifth year of this wonderful competition. We have received an overwhelming response this year, with the standard being exceptionally high from all participating schools. It is always a pleasure to work with such creative and enthusiastic teams involved in a national challenge designed to support engineering in the future”.

The winning Welsh team from Llantwit Major collected  a prize of £250!  Well done and congratulations!