A pair of aspiring engineers from Tillicoultry Primary School have won through to the national final of the Junior Engineers for Britain K'Nex Challenge 2010.

P6 pupils Matthew Nicholls and Ciaran Carberry reached the final after winning the East of Scotland K'Nex Challenge which took place at Falkirk Wheel on 27th May. They will now travel to the UK final on 11th June at the Imperial Museum, Duxford, near Cambridge. This is the first time a school from Clackmannanshire has reached the national final stage.

Matthew and Ciaran impressed judges at the regional event with their 75cm high tower, which included pulleys, a lift and an outside platform. The judges, who were all retired engineers, asked pupils to demonstrate their imagination, creativity and ingenuity by designing and making a model, using K'Nex, which solves a set challenge. They marked Matthew and Ciaran high on their problem solving abilities as well as the finished design and presentation skills. They came out top against 26 other schools from across Fife, the Lothians, Borders, Stirling and Falkirk.


The early rounds of the K'Nex challenge took place earlier this year when Matthew and Ciaran first won a competition within Tillicoultry Primary involving all P6 pupils, and then won a cluster final held at Alva Academy. These rounds involved the construction of a windmill.

Frank McKeever Stem Manager with Global Science who organised the regional competition said: "The standard of the East of Scotland challenge was very high. The Tillicoultry pupils did extremely well and we wish them well for the final."

Councillor George Matchett, Inclusion Portfolio Holder, said: "What an excellent achievement to reach the national final of this tough competition. My congratulations go to Matthew and Ciaran who I'm sure will do Tillicoultry Primary and Clackmannanshire proud at the event."

The K'Nex Challenge is a fun design and build competition open to P6 pupils who work in pairs to produce a specific design solution for a real-life problem such as building a bridge, carrying a load or demonstrating a mechanism. There are five levels in the competition and from one level to the next, pupils' ability is stretched through learning new skills and going through more difficult challenges as they move up the levels. Area, regional and national final activities are judged by engineers who give useful feedback and enable the best teams to progress to the next level.

(GK/BMcC)