Last week, Cosmos Club pupils witnessed the culmination of weeks of creativity, engineering and teamwork as they competed in a fierce flight competition. 

With the help of Engineering Technician Mr Lamplugh, pupils from S2-S6 designed and built balsa wood gliders. Each team was tasked with using a single piece for the fuselage, but they were free to let their imaginations soar when designing the wings, tails, and noses. This freedom resulted in a dazzling variety of ambitious designs.

This event is part of the broader James Webb Space Telescope trophy competition, which runs throughout the academic year. It offers a platform for like-minded and enthusiastic pupils to share knowledge and deepen their passion for space and engineering. 

S3 pupil Liam shared: “I enjoyed the pressure of designing and building for the competition today, and I’m really looking forward to the Astronomy and Astrophysics we are doing next!”

S4 pupils Corinne and Harry commented: “As a group we enjoyed working together to build a glider which ultimately was very sturdy and ended up surprising us. We all look forward to doing it next year and our out there design led to unexpected results. We found new friends and enjoyed being pushed further than we usually are in class.”

Rurik and Cailean (S5) said: “We should have planned the design to fly a lot more but we really enjoyed the build.”

Mrs Carnegie, Teacher of Physics and Cosmos Club leader, concluded: “Throughout the year, pupils from S2 to S6 will be competing in team challenges for the prestigious JWST trophy. My favourite part of the glider launch night was hearing the teams immediately discuss what they’ll change and improve on next year and how excited they were for each other when a glider really took off.”

With the glider competition now complete, the dark nights will allow the club to move into the astronomy part of the year. The teams have been challenged to learn as much as they can about the Northern Hemisphere sky before heading out to Templars Park with their telescopes. 

In 2025, the pupils are looking forward to a brand new annual competition courtesy of the Robert Gordon’s College Parents’ Association. The RGCPA have generously awarded to the club a grant, which will be used to purchase solid fuel model rockets. This third and final instalment of the team competition will be an incredibly exciting and unique experience for our pupils.