It was a race to the finish for speedy pupils

P7 pupils at Coupar Angus Primary School spent an afternoon last week racing go-karts they had designed and built themselves.

The racing and speed trials were the culmination of a six-week project at the school run by Alistair Jelks, which aims to support the P7 pupils with their transition to Blairgowrie High School later this year.

Alistair explained: “To emphasise and encourage the importance of working together you can’t get more engaging than go-karts.

“The first session starts in the classroom, where the young people begin by exploring feelings and emotions and how this affects behaviour and our thoughts and beliefs.

“They then undertake some group work and social skills.

“Working in teams, each young person uses their social and creative skills to work together to design and build a cardboard body kit for their kart.

“There is a technical element to the challenge too. It involves design skills, maths skills and project planning.

“Then on the final day they hold a race day.”

He added: “We have done this project for a number years at Rattray Primary School where it has always been a popular part of the school’s transition programme, but this is the first time we have done it in Coupar Angus.”

Nikki Drew, head teacher at Coupar Angus Primary School, said the pupils had all enjoyed the experience.

She said: “The children have thoroughly enjoyed being creative and having this very hands-on experience.

“They have learned about team work, competition, communication skills, art and creativity and design and technology - it has covered a lot of bases.

“I would like to thank Alistair, and Astrid Leeson from the Coupar Angus Youth Activities Group, for coming to the school, and the police for coming along to the final race and measuring the speeds.

“It has been a very worthwhile project and a lot of fun.”

Andy Dingwall, deputy head teacher at Blairgowrie High School, added: “The project has been very successful in supporting transition for young people at Rattray and, while continuing that work, we are aiming to capitalise on the experience and learning from Rattray and expand the project to support more young people across the catchment area.”

Ten races were held on the final day with each of the four participating teams winning at least one race.

The team which won the most races was called ‘The Big I Don’t Know’, with the ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ team second.

‘The Bread People’ team won the competition for the best design, while ‘Fire’ won the award for best graphics.

‘The Big I Don’t Know’ won the award for fastest lap in a time of 36.84 seconds and the land speed record was won by the ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ team which clocked 11 miles per hour.

Teams

Thomas the Tank Engine – Cerys Grant, Logan Symon, Wiktoria Marcinkowska and Ronin Crichton

Bread People – Kyle Nairn, Neave Fair, Liam Thomas, Lauren Campbell and Nadia Tworek

The Big I Don’t Know – Isaac Miller, Beth Duncan, Dylan Drummond, Kasey-Lee Geekie and Sophie Stewart

Fire – Caley Davidson, Hamish Siveyer, Klaudia Walkowiak, Chloe Harris and Hannah Sloan

Pictures by Richard Wilkins.