Year 5 Pupils Race to Green

Year 5 pupils who have been taking part in the Greenpower Team club have seen their hard work culminate in an exciting adventure at Perranporth aerodrome, competing in the Green Goblin races with their eco car.

Our pupils have spent time planning and practising ahead of the Greenpower Challenge, a national competition to design and learn to drive an electric car to race at Greenpower events. Guided by Mrs Knight, pupils used as many recycled materials as possible to meet the eco-credentials of this renowned competition, with the cars aiming to be fully sustainable and green. During DT lessons at school, pupils made hexagons from plastic waste to adorn the sides of the car, with the help of local business One Blue Eye. Mrs Knight plans on recycling as much as she can from the car to rebuild for next year, to enable a continuous cycle of recycling for the project.

Our Year 5 pupils also collectively chose the name for the car, Race for Nature, and helped to develop concepts for the logo displayed on the car and team T-shirts.

On the day of the competition, the airfield was a buzz of excitement, with hundreds of children from local and regional primaries taking part. Our pupils worked brilliantly together as a team, taking turns to push the car, drive and supervise any repairs or adjustments.

Mrs Knight said, “The competition has been open to all of Year 5, and we had 30 pupils sign up, keen to take part. This has been whittled down to 16 dedicated children, who have immersed themselves in the lunchtime club to get the car ready. The group have decorated the car, mended the belt, changed tyres and looked at mechanics. This had been an excellent opportunity for them to work as a team, whilst gaining practical and hands-on experience in the STEM world of design and engineering process and application. The competition has given pupils extensive awareness of circular design. All round it has been a fantastic team effort by them”.

We are delighted to announce that the Truro School Prep team came 3rd in the slalom race. A huge well done to all of our Greenpower team, and thanks to Mrs Knight for making this incredible opportunity possible.