First® Lego® League Challenge is a global competition for young people aged 9 to 16, run in the UK by the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

We are delighted to announce this season’s SUPERPOWERED First® Lego® League Challenge tournament is back as a face-to-face event for the first time since 2019. This year’s Sussex regional tournament will be taking place on Thursday 9th February at Haywards Heath College, where thirteen teams of students from schools across the South East will battle it out on the infamous ‘Challenge Mat’ with their Lego® programmable SPIKE Prime or EV3 robots, for a chance to become regional champions.

This affable competition engages young people in research, teamwork, problem-solving, coding, and engineering – building and programming a LEGO® robot that navigates the missions of a robot game. This year’s theme, the SUPERPOWERED℠ challenge, will test students to explore where energy comes from and how it is distributed, stored, and used and they will need to put their superpowered creativity to work to innovate for a better energy future.

It will be a jam-packed day, starting at 9am, supported by STEM Ambassadors officiating as referees and judges to ensure no ‘foul play’ is taking place during the tournament. They will ensure the teams code their robots to complete the practical challenges and design and build adaptations to fix onto their robots to maximise their performance.

Kyla Winter, First® Lego® League Delivery project lead, of Canterbury Christ Church’s STEM Hub said: “We are excited to support this popular annual event that allows young people to demonstate their STEM skills by building and programming a robot to tackle this tough SUPERPOWERED℠ challenge to complete a set of missions whilst presenting their work to teams of judges.

“We’re extremely grateful to our STEM Ambassadors for investing their time and sharing their knowledge to inspire the next generation of young people to consider careers in STEM sectors. We wish all the teams the best of luck and look forward to meeting them and their robots on the day.”

Paul Riley, Principal of Haywards Heath College, said: "It is a tremendous opportunity to host the First® Lego® League Challenge at Haywards Heath College, part of the Chichester College Group.
"We are looking forward to welcoming everyone and showcasing the wonderful facilities we have to offer. The college is a great place to be a student and maybe we will see some of the students in the future continuing their learning journeys here.”

This year’s participating schools are: Ark Alexandra Academy, Bennett Memorial Diocesan School, Dunottar School x2 teams, Newick Church of England Primary School, Reigate School, Reigate St Mary’s Preparatory School, St David's Prep, Uckfield College, Windlesham House School x2 teams and Woldingham School x2 teams.

The winning school will go on to compete at the National Finals in Harrogate, North Yorkshire on 22 April 2023.
The event is supported by The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and delivered by The STEM Hub of the South East and Central.

For information about First® Lego® League visit:  https://www.firstlegoleague.org