2 weeks Ago
School pupils earned a surprise visit from two Gladiators stars. Phantom and Dynamite, who are on the popular BBC television show, visited students at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School in Rottingdean. The visit was part of the school's prize for winning a BBC coding competition.
The competition encouraged primary schools to design a fitness gadget for the Gladiators using the pocket-sized micro:bit computer. (Image: Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School) The students also received a coding workshop from experts. The competition was aimed at students aged seven to 11 and tasked them with creating a gadget to help the Gladiators enhance their performance.
A group of six children from Our Lady of Lourdes met over several weeks to analyse the events the Gladiators take part in and the skills and abilities required. (Image: Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School) The students decided to focus on hitting power and grip strength, both useful for the duel event. They designed a gadget, wrote about it, and drew diagrams, which were submitted.
After finding out their entry had been shortlisted in the top 50, the school discovered that they had won. Anita Philbrook, headteacher at Our Lady of Lourdes, said: "We're incredibly proud of our amazing children, who have demonstrated creativity and collaboration throughout this competition. "We take pride, as a school, in encouraging our students to take on new challenges, and competitions like this help to light the fire in every child.
"We want to say well done to those involved, and what an amazing experience for our whole school to have the Gladiators visit us. "Also a special thanks to Mr Hill who ran the coding club." Dynamite said: "I thought it was really cool - something that could really help us.
" Phantom added: "And remember, nothing worth having comes easy...
so always work hard.".
