Students from four local schools, Crofton, Featherstone, Castleford and The King’s High School took part in the recent competition for the Smallpeice Trophy at NEW College, Pontefract. The Smallpeice Trust which provided the trophy for this event over 20 years ago, is an educational trust set up by a successful British engineer to promote activities which encourage children to become involved in Science, Engineering and Technology.

In this year’s competition (planned and managed by retired NEW College teacher Mr G Auty), students were first challenged to use their design and artistic skills to make animated birthday cards, showing the movement of a ball in a football scene or a ten-pin bowling scene when the card was opened.

The second project was to make a model in the style of one of the sections of the world famous Firth of Forth railway bridge in Scotland. The real bridge has three cantilever sections spanning a very wide river at a height which does not restrict the movement of shipping. Instructions on the measurements of some the parts which had to be built were very precise so that like the real bridge, the sections could be joined together to make one long bridge. Seven of the eight spans which the teams produced were successfully linked at the end of the competition whilst the guest judges from engineering, physics and maths totalled the scores.

The schools taking part have all won the competition at some time in the past, but on this occasion, for the third successive year, the winning team was from Castleford High School.