Welcome to Rotary-Technology-Leeds.org
May 2010 - See News Udate - Roundhay School wins District Final!
What is the Leeds Rotary Schools' Technology Tournament all about?
The Rotary Clubs' Youth Opportunities Programmes are aimed at improving the personal development and skills of young individuals. Rotary Technology Tournaments have been held nationwide in the last few years, and 2010 is the fourth year for the event in Leeds. It is organised by 10 of the Leeds Rotary Clubs working together.
Among the varied aims of Rotary are the support of the local community, and to improve the personal development and skills of individuals.These skills and qualities are often badly needed by industry, who benefit by having innovative employees. In the competition, schools provide up to 3 teams of 4 youngsters, who tackle an unseen design and technology task. The whole event is completed during one school day. [See the reports for previous years (tabs on left of screen) and for the sorts of task set]. We welcome participation by Schools in Leeds by competing, and by Sponsors, who assist with support and judging.
The competition requires school teams to tackle a task, about which they and their teachers know nothing until the day. They are required to design, develop, build and test a specified model from the very limited resources supplied, such as strip wood, dowel, paper clips, tape, wire, cardboard, glue, elastic bands etc. The whole event is completed during one school day.The results are judged by a panel of Rotarians and Industrialists with backgrounds in engineering, technology, enterprise and education.
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The 2010 Event took place at the South Leeds Stadium (John Charles Sports Centre) Leeds, on Tuesday 2nd March. Thirty-nine teams from 15 schools took part. The Deputy Lord Mayor of Leeds, Councillor Andrew Barker attended along with Mrs Barker, and presented the prizes to the winners. The District Governor of Rotary District 1040, Rotarian Emyr Lloyd-Davies was also there.
The teams had to design and build a 'flashing beacon' which illuminated a sign advertising a charity of their choice.
The Winners were:
Basic: St Mary's School, Menston.
Intermediate: Farnley Park School.
Advanced: Roundhay High School.
A prize for the best innovative solution to the task was awarded to
the Roundhay High School Intermediate Team.
Congratulations to all those taking part in the Competition
The Task required the teams to design, make and test a 'Flashing Beacon' which was to illuminate an advertisement for a Charity. The students were given a battery and light bulb in addition to the usual materials mentioned above, and came up with some marvellous ideas, which they then had to translate, using their manual skills into the working model. They also had to document their thoughts, ideas, test results, decision choices, plans etc. in a 'portfolio'. The whole process was assessed by the Judges. A very enjoyable and rewarding day was had by all, not only by the students and their teachers, but by the Rotarians from the 10 Clubs involved. It was fun!
***** LISTEN TO THE BBC RADIO LEEDS REPORT ON THE EVENT *****
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BUT,
What will the Task be Next Year????
THE TEAMS WILL FIND OUT ON 8th MARCH 2011.
No one knows what the 2011 task will be yet, and the entrants will only find out on the day! We do know it will be a testing, but enjoyable and rewarding challenge for those taking part. They are guaranteed a good, interesting and fun day out, which will test their knowledge, ingenuity, innovation, application and manual skills etc., as well as their ability to work in a team. Teachers also get a chance to participate in the task, as an Advanced Team, and can undertake Continuing Professional Development in Enterprise, overseen by Education Leeds Education Business Partnership.
Schools can enter teams for the task at 3 levels - Basic (Years 7, 8 and 9 - age 11 to 13), Intermediate (Years 10 and 11 - age 13 to 15) and Advanced (Years 12 and 13 - age 15 to 18). Schools will be sent details and an invitation to take part later in this year.
The day is possible thanks to the sponsorship and involvement of Education Leeds, Industrial Firms, Leeds City Councillors, as well as the schools and their students and the Rotarians who take part in the running of the event.
We welcome participation by schools by competing and by sponsors, who assist with support and judging.
Interested? - these contacts may be useful:
Contacts
For Schools:
mailto:schools.contact@rotary-technology-leeds.org
For the event
mailto:event.queries@rotary-technology-leeds.org
Updated 6th May 2010
