Pontefract primary school pupils race to success at Lenovo F1 In Schools National Finals

The competition took place at Autosport International, a motorsport exhibition held at the NEC in Birmingham, which saw schools from across the country turn up to compete in events throughout the day.

The team, named “The Golden Eagles”, with members Harry Mitchell, 10, Dominic Norris, 10, Ferdinand Clarkson, nine, Dexter Whitworth, 10, Sam Hilton, 10, and George Hilton, seven, won the Judges’ Choice Award.

A second team from the school, The Black Cats, also competed at the National Finals.

Andrew Denford, founder and chairman of F1 in Schools, said: “The primary category of our educational initiatives is the largest growth area and we’re seeing not only the number of schools competing increasing, but the standard of work has been extremely high.

"The pupils have an impressive level of knowledge which goes far beyond the attainments reached within the classroom.

"Alongside this, we’ve seen a fantastic enthusiasm from the teams, with all the students being passionate about their work and enjoying competing at the National Finals.”

The primary school version of the prestigious F1 in Schools initiative is becoming increasingly popular with both school children and teachers.

An innovative STEM educational initiative, it challenges primary school students to design, build and race a miniature paper racing car.

Teams spend many months designing and making their aerodynamic racing cars before competing at regional finals held around the country to secure places in the National Finals, with teams judged on a range of criteria including engineering, marketing, verbal presentation and, of course, speed of the car, introducing them to engineering and the key STEM subjects in a compelling and fun educational programme.

Michael Walker, head teacher at Ackworth Howard, said: “It has been so inspiring to see the children flourish through the F1 in Schools journey, first competing at regionals to gain a spot in the Nationals competition and then to achieve the Judges’ Choice Award.

"We are very proud of all our teams within school who competed.”