On 6 February 2023, our Year 7s visited for a day of Engineering challenges at the Senior School, with the duel aim of learning that the older students at the Senior School are actually quite friendly and that perhaps even Maths can be fun, and not necessarily a solo activity.  There was a massive amount of collaboration required for the day and each person in the team needed to do their part. 

There was a brief with real-life bridge designs and ideas as well as some strict rules: the aim was to build a bridge across a 30cm gap and have it withstand the most weight on its central structure.  There were quite a variety of approaches, from size, design, density, and shape perspectives, and all the participants made a massive effort. 

There was an introductory game of “Split or Steal” where a Boolean choice was not so simple, and everything to play for in the shape of a cookie.  There were some workshops on 3-D origami design, center-of-mass with forks and corks, and bio-engineering in quick succession in the afternoon. 

All of this was followed by the final grand bridge destruction testing.  Every bridge supported a lot of weight considering the building materials: just glue and spaghetti!  However, special mention has to go to “The Breadcrumbs” team (Ollie, Inari, Lucy and Mikey) as our prize-winners this year, whose bridge withstood a whopping 3200 grams of mass.  The “Holy Ones” did very well in second place with 2400 grams supported and joint third went to the “Dracocorns” and team “Pesto Pasta” whose bridges both withstood 2200 grams! 

A huge thanks go to Prep and Senior staff, porters, Holroyd Howe, the marketing team, the transport department, the Sixth Form who did an amazing job during the event and even more behind the scenes including cleanup afterward, all the parents who came to support the event and everyone who took part.