Cornish pupils to compete in Lego contest final

The pupils will compete against other schools in Harrogate next month

A primary school in Cornwall has qualified for the national final of a Lego competition.

A team of seven pupils from Year 5 and 6 from Darite Primary School in Bodmin entered the First Lego League Challenge at RNAS Culdrose, Cornwall in March.

The contest aims to introduce children aged four to 16 to subjects like science, technology, engineering and maths with coding and building.

The school earned a place in the national final, which is set to take place in Harrogate on 3 May where they will compete against 74 other teams.

Headteacher Tom Whipps has been helping the pupils

Last year the school came 25th in the national competition.

This year's theme for nine to 16 year-olds was "submerged" where pupils explored the ocean's ecosystems.

Darite Primary School pupils designed hydro-electric generators to enhance shark-tagging with help from Plymouth's Marine Biological Association.

They designed tags on paper and then 3D printed parts of their designs.

The team won trophies from the regional heats

Headteacher Tom Whipps said: "The children have shown amazing dedication and hard work.

"They've come in before school, they've come in at lunchtime, after school.

"[Their] dedication to recode, code and code again their robot and practice until it was perfect."

Stephen, 11, said: "I'm really proud of all of us, to go to Harrogate means we did really well," he said.