Ferndown students crowned champions at robotics competition

A group of talented students from Ferndown Upper School demonstrated their engineering expertise by winning the South West regional FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) UK in April.

A total of 16 teams of young engineers from across the region gathered at Bournemouth University for the competition, which showcased the ingenuity, teamwork and technical skills of secondary school students who have spent months designing, building and programming robots to compete in head-to-head challenges. South West FTC UK was one of 14 regional competitions held across the country.

Team Python from the Ferndown school emerged as the regional champions alongside their alliance team Pieces of Eight Bit from Barton Peverill Sixth Form in Eastleigh. Both teams earned a spot at the FTC UK National Championship taking place later this year.

Team Python’s robot demonstrated exceptional performance in both autonomous and driver-controlled tests. The students impressed the judges with their innovative design solutions, strategic gameplay and bright green 3D-printed elements.

The team also secured the Design Award, which celebrates the team that demonstrates industrial design principles, striking a balance between form, function, and aesthetics alongside effective design and addressing the game challenge.

Team captain Rhys White said: “We spend a lot of time refining our ideas and robots around preparing for our GCSEs as we are all in Year 11. We’ve poured a lot of effort into our robot for today’s competition – now to prepare for the nationals!”