A group of students from Year 10 and 11 have been working extremely hard over the last few months to design, build and program a VEX robot. They took their robot over to John Warner School to compete in this year’s Robot Rumble competition. The students displayed fantastic teamwork, as they progressed through the competition, they developed their skills and deservedly won the skills challenge trophy.
Robot Rumble has provided students an opportunity to work with engineers from MBDA.
‘On Wednesday, we took part in the Vex V5 High Stakes Game at John Warner School. Before we spent many weeks designing, building and adapting our robot, with dreams to win. The main idea of the game was to collect rings and place them onto stakes, whilst working with another team in an alliance. On the day of the competition, we did last minute adjustments to our robot and code and did last minute additions to our log book in order to show the judges all our progress.
When we arrived, we saw all of the other team’s robots and realised that different teams focused more on different aspects of the game so they all looked different. At the beginning, there were 30 qualifying games, where everyone was put together with different teams in alliances to put the various teams in ranking order. After this, we were in 11th place and beat Richard Hale!
After a quick lunch break, all the teams lined up and chose an alliance for the main competition. As we were last to choose, we were placed in an alliance in Richard Hale. In the main competition, we ended up losing our first game and were therefore out of the competition.
However, there was a sub competition which we also entered called the Skills Competition. The aim was to get as many rings onto stakes as possible in a minute. We had three attempts and got 0, then 10 and then 10 points. Overall, we won this competition and received a trophy! We were very excited about this.’
Darcy and Emily
Using grant funding already received from EdufundUK Ltd and the Royal Society of Chemistry, Presdales’ Science Department are currently in the process of updating their range of Data Loggers.
New Bluetooth Data Loggers communicate wirelessly with bespoke software installed on students’ own devices. Their ease of use allows them to be utilised in a wide range of experiments through all year groups and with data saved on the computers it can also be recalled for homework and for cross-curricular use, increasing the depth of learning gained by students.
Replacement of all of the data loggers will cost around £8,000 of which £3,000 has already been funded and the decision on a £3000 application to the Royal Society is pending.
A further application to the Tesco Community Grants Team for their Blue Token scheme has resulted in our project going live in the Ware store this week. With the opportunity of gaining £1500 funding Presdales would sincerely appreciate you taking the time to drop a token in the box whenever you are there. Please share this request with your friends and family too.
Alternatively, if you are in a position to be able to support the purchase of any of this equipment by way of a charitable donation/sponsorship our Grants Officer would love to hear from you and can be reached at nalbone@presdales.herts.sch.uk.
In December, Year 12 A Level English Literature students attended the EMC Poems of the Decade Conference 2024, a dynamic event designed to explore key themes, ideas, and techniques in the “Poems of the Decade” anthology, offering students and teachers fresh insights to deepen their understanding of contemporary poetry.
The Conference brought contemporary poetry to life in ways that were thought-provoking. With powerhouse poets like Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and Patience Agbabi taking to the stage, students were treated to captivating readings and invaluable insights into the creative process. Each poet brought their unique energy and perspective, sparking discussions about identity, language, and the craft of poetry. It was a celebration of poetry at its finest—alive, relevant, and endlessly inspiring.
BBC Young Writers’ Competition 2025 – You’ve got until 24th March to get your entry in, so get writing!
Congratulations to Lottie Mills, an ex-Presdales student, who is one of the judges this year!
Please click here for more information.
On the 20th of November, a small group of sixth form chemistry students had the opportunity to attend Chemistry Live in London. This was a series of talks from a selection of experts in the field of chemistry. It gave us a wider understanding of jobs in chemistry, as well as giving us top tips on ways to improve our exam and revision technique. I definitely learned a lot! All the talks were engaging, and they gave us all the chance to think about our futures within chemistry. We heard about topics ranging from chemical weapons to growing plants in foam mattresses in refugee camps in Syria – all of which were extremely interesting! A big thank you to the teachers who made the trip possible, especially Mrs Richard and Miss Cooke who went with us on the trip.
Abbie Oldham, Year 12
Latest News
Coming Up
Thursday 27th to 12th December
Year 11 Mocks
Wednesday 3rd to Saturday 6th
Year 8 & Year 9 German Christmas Markets
Friday 5th
PRE Trip to St Paul’s Cathedral for Year 13
Saturday 6th
Year 12 Bar Mock Trial at University of Hertfordshire
Contact Us
Presdales School
Hoe Lane
Ware
Hertfordshire
SG12 9NX
Tel: 01920 462210
admin@presdales.herts.sch.uk
Headteacher:
Mr Warren
