THREE students from Droitwich Spa High School have won an award as part of a national design and technology challenge.

Ross Kirkpatrick, George King and Elliott Power were given the Judges Discretionary Award at the 4x4 Schools Technology Challenge finals held at the Jaguar Land Rover design studio in Warwickshire.

The students have been competing in the challenge over the past six months, against thousands of young people aged between 11 and 19, taking on the challenge of designing, building and testing their miniature remote-controlled 4x4 vehicle ‘That Looks Steep’.

They won two awards at the regional finals in the ‘class One’ category, and for Best Engineered Vehicle, and took on 25 other teams in the national final, where it just missed out on the top three places, but impressed the judges so much that they decided to make an additional, discretionary award.

Mr Andrew Millicheap teaches engineering at Droitwich Spa High School, and coached the team. He said: “All in all it was a fantastic day that highlighted the great opportunities available in British engineering and manufacturing. I am really proud of Ross, George and Elliott as they demonstrated the incredible student talent we have in the DSHS design and technology department. They have been an amazing team who have developed just the sort of skills that JLR and other engineering companies are looking for. I am sure that in the future these three students will go on to even greater engineering success.”

Andrew Denford, chairman of Engineering in Motion, which runs the Land Rover 4x4 Challenge, added: “The Land Rover 4x4 in Schools programme increases the engagement of young people with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects through the practical application of design and technology, mathematics and science. It is an excellent opportunity for students to work in teams and gain an awareness and understanding of key skills and project management. All the teams have produced outstanding work and made it very difficult for the judges.”