Helping you navigate the season ahead

Hey teams and Team Leads, this season kicked off with a rocky start and we appreciate you all for hanging in there! The government announced on 22 February that schools and colleges will reopen from 08 March at the earliest while the lockdown measures ease, so we wanted to share how we’re supporting your chosen level of activity this season as you make important adjustments throughout spring and summer.

Here’s how we’re helping you to deliver the programme in alignment with your school’s priorities.

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Keeping the ultimate goal in sight with remote events and judging

This season will remain alive and kicking for all teams who want to compete in the Ultimate Goal game this summer. Your school or youth group can opt in to host its own private matches with a game field supplied by HQ. Between June and July, teams across the UK will compete individually to top the national leaderboard. HQ will provide your school or youth group with guidance to independently run a private event, including a webinar that shows you the ropes. Similar to the competition, participating teams will receive remote judging slots to present on a video call to a panel of industry judges in a bid to earn FIRST awards.

Confirm your participation, event place or deferral by 02 April 2021. 

Fuelling the charge with industry mentors

We have an epic squad of industry mentors ready to ease the load for teachers and level up the team’s learning experience. If you haven’t applied for a mentor yet, let us know when completing the above 2020-21 season update. Mentors are already being paired with teams, so don’t miss out on providing your team with valuable industry insights.

Not sure if you need a mentor? Here’s what they do.

Auto-enroll for free next season

All registered teams for this season will be automatically re-enrolled for the 2021-22 season free of charge* regardless of participation this academic year. So if you’re worried your team won’t be able to continue this year, rest assured that there will be a spot waiting for you in September.

*Eligibility for free enrolment is subject to outstanding invoices being settled before the 2021-22 season starts.

Awarding all levels of participation

We accept that not all teams will be able to commit to competing in an event this season and want to recognise everyone for their hard work. Every young person who participates this season and submits an engineering notebook can receive an accredited CREST Award regardless of whether they compete on the game field. Every young person who completes 15 hours of activity will be eligible for a CREST Bronze Award and those who complete 30 hours can achieve a CREST Silver Award. Details of how to apply for your award will be shared later.

Discuss your options at the next webinar

On Wednesday 17 March at 16:00, we discussed ways to support you, provision options for the rest of this season, how our remote events will work, gaining an accredited CREST Award, and a chance to ask us anything. You can watch the webinar recording on our webinar archive page.