Last month Royal Russell entered three teams in this years Science and Technology Problem Solving Challenge Competition. The heat was held at St Philomenas School Carshalton.

The three teams were competing against 10 other schools in the Croydon area and their task was to use paper, straws, thin plastic card and various other items to build a wand for moving metal washers from one tray and dropping them into another. The only way to solve this problem was to make an electromagnet at one end. A switch to turn it on and off was also needed as well as a way of operating the switch as far back from the electromagnet as possible. There were points for the length of the wand and for transferring the washers from one tray to another in the shortest time.

Y8/9 team won in some style, gaining not only the highest points score in their age group on the evening, not only the highest points score of their age group across all five heats but also the highest points score for all the age groups in all the heats. The other two teams performed very well in the hour and a half allowed for the task. The Y12/13s produced an extremely long device but unfortunately like many other teams it was difficult to support its own weight in action. The year 10/11 team came fourth. They did very well but unfortunately one of the washers got knocked off at the vital moment. The Year 7 - 9 team went on to the county final.

The final was held at Charterhouse School on Tuesday 15^th March. The task this time was to project a ping pong ball covered in Velcro towards a felt board and get it to stick as high as possible. Teams had only the energy that could be stored in one rubber band as well as the usual corriflute, paper, thin dowel, sellotape, straws and string.

It was virtually impossible for the ball to stick to the felt board. The Royal Russell team however did get their ball the highest. One other team managed to get their ball to stick so they won – meaning the Y9 team came second.

They received a prize of £100 and a medal. for being runners up. They were on the stage moments before receiving their prize for the highest points score in the heats – another £100. This took their total prize winning to £250 – an impressive achievement.