Shropshire school races to success at national F1 finals

Team Phoenix and Team Moreton Warriors, from Moreton Say Primary School, near Market Drayton, both qualified at the regionals in Telford last year and were then selected to take part in the finals at the Autosport International Show on January 14.

They joined 28 teams from across the UK from Glasgow to the South of England at the event, where they raced the cars they had spent months building and testing down a 20 metre race track.

The students, made up of Year Six and Year Seven pupils, who returned to their primary school for the event, also had to stand in front of the judges to give a five-minute verbal presentation, speak to the judges about the design and engineering process and create a pit display, showing off all their hard work in the run up to the Nationals.

Both teams performed fantastically on the day, placing 5th and 9th in the track race and 12th and 15th overall.

Moreton Warriors were awarded the trophy for Sponsorship and Marketing and were called up on stage to receive their award.

The whole event was broadcast live on YouTube.

Teacher Miss Sian Jones, who coordinated the F1 event as an after-school club, said the project had given the children so many skills.

She said: “This was such a fantastic project for the children’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths skills. They learnt how to work together as a team as well as thinking about how to do a presentation and answer the judges’ on-the-spot questions. They were also interviewed live on television and the confidence this gave them has been amazing to see.

“The F1 in Schools programme is such an incredible journey for children to get involved with and can carry on through secondary school to university level. We are incredibly proud that Moreton Say, a relatively small village school, had not just one but two teams in the National Finals.

“And we are already working on our plans for this year’s regionals in April with two new teams.”

Miss Jones thanked the teams’ sponsors: ACT, Acutest, AR Richards and Market Drayton Mowers.

“We are so grateful for the support from local businesses who have enabled us to do this project and support the children. It was truly an amazing day for them and opened their eyes to a wealth of opportunities available in not only the motorsport industry, but engineering too,” she said.

Pupil Lewis Dutton, aged 10, who was part of the Moreton Warriors Team, said he really enjoyed the whole experience.

He said: “We were so proud to win an award. We worked together as a team, and we tried out and tested our car. We have lots of new ideas for next year.”

Leanne Mae, managing director of The Stem Workshop in Telford, which supported the school, said: “I was delighted to hear that one of our local schools had been selected to compete at national level for the F1 in Schools Primary competition. 

“F1 in Schools is a fantastic competition that not only supports in developing children's skills across Design and Technology and Engineering, but it also gives them a real life context to apply their knowledge from Science and Maths. Connecting them to a range of exciting careers.

“I was delighted to meet the team and hear all about the progress they had made in their involvement in the competition and really pleased that they won the award for Sponsorship and Marketing.

“Sian attended a training event back in 2021 that we ran at In-Comm Training in Shrewsbury and since then despite all of the challenges schools have faced she has worked tirelessly after school to ensure the children were given this unique opportunity to take part.

“I am incredibly proud of their achievements and can not wait to greet the teams at the next regional event on Monday 24th April at In-Comm Training in Telford where the next cohort will compete.”