Tile Cross produce STEMsational performance to take home trophy
Former Tile Cross headteacher Paul Marano had to endure the celebrations and taunts from his former players and fans as Tile Cross stormed to victory in the inaugural Inter-mat STEM Cup at Saltley Academy.
On a beautiful day in June that recorded the hottest day of the year in the UK so far, the playing conditions were absolutely perfect for an indoor science competition. 3 schools from the MAT had entered: Tile Cross, Washwood Heath and the hosts, Saltley Academy. All schools brought 3 teams with them, with a maximum of 5 students allowed in each team. There were 4 different challenges for teams to get as many points for their school, with points awarded to 1st place (3 points) and 2nd place (1 point) in each challenge.
Things got off to a great start for TCA as the team of Archie Chatwin, Uzair Shah, Niom Hussain and Arsalan Murtaza (Team Crazy Gang) won the first challenge: building the tallest free-standing spaghetti tower. Their tower managed to reach a total of 61cm, an official WHMAT record! We also had a solid submission by Corey Taylor, Chloe Roberts, Rami Farah and Yousef Akhtar (Team King Bob). Unfortunately, the team of Manahil Naqvi, Zahraa Ahmed, Arshia Abbas, Zuenerah Khan and Eliza Khan (Team Gerald) had a serious malfunction in their marshmallow base that caused their tower to collapse (I wish I took a picture) but it was all in good spirits when the whistle was blown to end the challenge.
Next up, teams had to build a plastic wheelbarrow from scratch and had an hour to complete it. Points were deducted if a team asked for the instruction manual. Our teams typically displayed our Tile Cross value of resilience as none of them took up that offer! Teams were judged on the wheelbarrow’s overall fitting, their mobility, and its ability to move a 4kg weight. No wheels had fallen off and all 3 teams had solid submissions, with Team ‘Crazy Gang’ awarded second place for their efforts to give us a crucial point at the half-time stage.
The third challenge was called ‘Bridge construction’ and involved constructing the longest and sturdiest arch bridge using only card, paper and cellotape. It was judged on its overall length, as well as its ability to hold a 50g weight. All our teams did very well, with Team ‘King Bob’ being awarded second place to give us another point on the board! It was all very tight heading into the final challenge, with any school still able to win the coveted trophy.
The final challenge of the day involved constructing a wind turbine that was able to lift a paper cup up off the table, and if successful, holding as many cubes as possible. It was a long, gruelling process, and our students worked really hard on this. Unfortunately, our ‘Crazy Gang’ had their excellent wind turbine disqualified (illegal construction methods), but our all-female team of ‘Team Gerald’ managed to win us an important 3 points and secure a win for Tile Cross!
Final Standings:
Tile Cross Academy – 8 points
Washwood Heath – 5 points
Saltley Academy – 3 points
Similar to the Eurovision song contest being held annually, Tile Cross are now set to host next year’s competition in June 2026.
After another addition to the trophy cabinet, Mr Ip can now add the 2025 Inter-mat STEM cup to his growing list of honours in an impressive managerial career.
The students were aboslutely fantastic, and deserve a lot of credit for their efforts.
