Just before half term, over 100 students from Years 9-12 competed in teams of five to earn the honour of representing the school in the SATRO problem-solving competition. The teams had an hour to make a lamppost-like structure using only the materials provided to them, which had to be as tall and long as possible and had a working light at the end of it. Points were awarded for how far above the desk and how far out to the side of their base the light was.

The groups did tremendously well, considering the time and materials constraints placed on them, and the final results were very close. One group from Year 9, one group from Year 10-11 and one group from Year 12 qualified for the inter-school heats at St Philomena’s School on Thursday, 9 March. Watch this space to find out how they get on!

Left: teams work busily in one of the three labs used to host all the participants
Right: the winning year 12 team standing proudly by their structure