Pupils win place at world robotic championships

St Teresa's tech team has built a robot which can pick up and carry a ball to a goal

A team of seven primary school pupils is hoping for success stateside after qualifying for a world robotics tournament.

The group, from St Teresa's Catholic Primary School, Hartlepool, has been competing at regional and national levels since November to make it through to May's finals in Dallas, Texas.

The competition, called "rapid relay", requires teams to design and build a robot able to hold and carry a ball, then score a goal as quickly as possible in 60 seconds.

Computing lead and team mentor Karl Ellis said the children "really deserved" the recognition for their hard work, after they gave up break times and worked after school to refine their robots and learn about coding.

Mr Ellis received funding and training to start the project in November and received a lot of interest from pupils.

In just six months, Teresa's tech team competed in a local competition in Sunderland, regional competition in Newcastle and national in Telford, Shropshire, gaining a place in the world championships in the US.

The robot must score a goal as quickly as possible in 60 seconds

St Teresa's Catholic Primary is one of three schools representing the UK in the tournament.

Aaron, who is one of the coders, said he got involved due to his passion in science and saw the project as a "great opportunity".

"Considering it's only our first time we're all really proud of ourselves," he said.

Oliver said he was very happy with the team's achievement, adding: "It's a very huge feat and a once-in-a-lifetime experience to go this far with school."

Team mentor Karl Ellis with pupils Tilly, Eliza, Lucy, Aaron, William, Solomon and Oliver

The team has so far raised £12,500 of its £20,000 target to be able to travel to the competition.

Mr Ellis said it had received support throughout the community.

"It would be great to be able to put Hartlepool on a global stage and really give it to the children who are really deserving for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," he said.

He said he was "so proud "of his pupils and they had "exceeded expectations" given the limited time they had for creating their robot.