Folkestone school's robotics team aims to inspire next generation

Five pupils from Kent are hoping to inspire the next generation of girls to get into the field of robotics when they represent Great Britain in an international competition.

The Year 10 and 11 students from The Folkestone School for Girls have been selected for the First Global Challenge in South Korea, which will see robots completing tasks related to tackling wildfires.

"Women in STEM [science, technology, engineering and maths] are underrepresented and it is an issue that needs to be raised," 14-year-old Prakriti said.

"Bringing more awareness to this topic will make younger girls find what they truly love."

Year 10 student Sophia said it was "amazing" to be able to show girls all over the world that they could do this and "to let them know that they are not alone if they do want to do it."

While group member Talikha said: "We are not only gaining experience for ourselves, but showing other girls who want to do this job that it is possible and our little school from Folkestone, a town that no one knows, can come to Korea and show everyone that everyone can do robotics."

The group was selected through an application process to represent the country at the First Global Challenge - a mixed-gender Olympics-style robotics competition for young people.

More than 190 countries are set to take part in the 2026 event in October.

The school's director of computing, Konrad Eke, said: "It has shown that students can work together, shown how STEM can be collaborative and it has also given them the opportunity to get hands-on and see real world results."

The 14 and 15-year-olds have been building the robot, which is designed to collect balls before shooting them into the air, during their summer holidays, after school and during their lunch breaks.

"It is kind of like having a young child that you have guided all the way up, especially having done both the programming and engineering, you see both aspects of it," 14-year-old Maddalena said.

"You have to be innovative as well as original, but all your ideas have to join together as well as link up," 14-year-old Aarna added.

The team will be joined by mentors and teachers from the school's computing department during their 13-day trip.

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