Sunday arrived and Gaynor had another race. Not a ‘race for life’ this time but Scalextric4Schools (S4S).
Tim manages the schools program for PTC a US software company. Each year he sets up the S4S competition, the finals of which were held at RAF Cosford, near Wolverhampton . Pupils use Creo/ProEngineer software to design, build and race their cars and prepare a presentation of their design and developments which they present to a team of five judges. The same software is used to design at Ferrari and Audi. Tim has his mid life crisis Audi but is still waiting for the Ferrari...
A terrific amount of planning goes into the event which is sponsored by Hornby and a number of other companies. Tim is also fortunate to know some retired teachers (from his previus life as an OFSTED inspector) who are who are happy to lend a hand. Many of you involved in education will be wondering whether it is possible to be an OFSTED inspector and still have friends! This year Tom and I were also roped in to help.
The day was busy but very worthwhile. The RAF museum staff at Cosford were superb hosts and the standards set by the pupils extremely high. Every one of them was a credit to their schools and to themselves. The passion and the technical knowledge of the students was excellent with the Russian pupils able to present to the five judges in near fluent English.
I was given the job of race controller - a very grand title for someone who registered the teams, allocated time slots for their races and presentations, and gave out the goodie bags. Tom was the official photographer/ gopher and Tim the Bernie Eccleston of the event!
The commitment of the pupils and teachers was tremendous. Some teams had come from Scotland and a couple of teams had even travelled from St Petersburg in Russia
The day was busy but very worthwhile. The RAF museum staff at Cosford were superb hosts and the standards set by the pupils extremely high. Every one of them was a credit to their schools and to themselves. The passion and the technical knowledge of the students was excellent with the Russian pupils able to present to the five judges in near fluent English.
The overall winners with their teacher Bob ...
Amidst all of the Government talk about falling standards these kids were doing stuff that I couldn't have done at their age, although like Mr Gove, I might possibly have been better at rote learning ...
