Sizewell C Lego Competition gives students digital design challenge

A Lego design competition from Sizewell C recently gave students at Alde Valley Academy an opportunity to demonstrate their digital design skills – part of a pilot scheme that could see competitions rolled out to more schools in the area.    

Run over six weeks, and open to all year groups, students were challenged to design the Sizewell C power station out of Lego using a digital design software. Students were assembled into teams of up to four, and each member was assigned a role to deliver their project: Project Manager, Design Lead, Materials Lead, and Financing Lead.   

The competition was designed with a series of real-life project management challenges, with each team given a costed materials sheet showing the bricks they were able to use and a theoretical budget of £250. The winning design would need to be accurate and within budget, with additional points for any flair in design.  

Libby Isaac, Acting Headteacher for Quality of Education, said: “Our students have been so lucky to have been given the opportunity to be part of this competition: it sparked a huge amount of interest in programming and modelling.   

“Students were able to use new software and work closely with such a passionate and dynamic team from Sizewell C. The students learned a lot and have been very animated throughout.   

“It has been a really great collaboration between what Sizewell C can offer our students and highlighted skills, knowledge and opportunities for our students post-16 which they would not have known about before.”   

At the end of the competition, a panel of judges from Sizewell C, the Sizewell Visitor Centre, and Alde Valley teaching team scored the designs, following a presentation by the finalists. The winning design came from the Year 10 team of Sorrel and Alannah.  

Sorrel, Year 10 student from the winning team, said: “We had a lot of fun being creative and designing the power station – and we added a smiley face to our design to give the power station a friendly look.”  

The Sizewell Team have taken a copy of the winning design so that models can be made out of Lego for real. A copy will be provided to Alde Valley Academy, and copies will also be displayed at the Sizewell C offices.  

Jack Raven, Regional Development Project Manager: “We had a lot of fun thinking of a creative programme that not only gave the students a fun and challenging project, but also will give us a really nice link to young people in Leiston. We will build the students’ winning design and have a Lego model displayed in our offices. We hope this pilot can be expanded to more schools.”