Year 7 students from Woolston Language College and Grove Park Business & Enterprise College participated in a Sail Away Challenge in March. The Team Building event, held at Grove Park, brought together over 200 students who would eventually study within the future Mayfield Academy. During the next academic year when the students will be in Year 9, they will be situated at Grove Park, which is currently an all boys school located in Southampton.
Working in teams, the students designed, developed, and tested their sail buggies prior to participating in the race heats and finals. All types of buggies were produced, from the makeshift models to the spectacular. However, students soon realised some of the finer and important points in the design stage if they were to have the one that travelled the furthest.
But why should the students have all the fun! Teachers from both Colleges, employees from Pricewaterhousecoopers (PWC), and Solent Skill Quest staff also designed models. As you would expect, teachers involved in Design & Technology seemed to have some far fetched and innovative ideas incorporated into what should be a simple process of wind propulsion.
The heats and the final races produced plenty of screaming and cheering; the elements that teachers strive hard to curtail during the normal routine day! Some excellent sailing buggies became winners on the day, having travelled the furthest distance, but there were also special awards presented to the team with the best designs. On a final note, a special thank you goes out to Geoff Briggs of PWC for providing an excellent keynote speech on the importance of teamwork, and to all the other members of the organisation who facilitated on the day.
