Two Offaly secondary schools among winners at regional Lego League final

Two secondary schools in Offaly were award-winners at a First Lego League regional final earlier this week.

The final took place at the Laois and Offaly Education and Training Board (LOETB) offices on Monday.

The 'Sand Toddlers' - a team from Tullamore College - exhibited masterful engineering to claim the Robot Design Award on the day, while the 'Heritage Hunters 2' team from Coláiste Naomh Cormac was honoured with the Core Values Award for demonstrating the true spirit of teamwork and professional courtesy.

The 'Oversimplified' team from Portlaoise College was the overall winner, with the victory securing the Portlaoise students' place to represent the region at Ireland's national final next month.

The organisers said the regional final "celebrated a remarkable breadth of talent from across Laois and Offaly, reflecting the high standard of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) excellence in local schools".

One of Ireland’s most successful and long-running STEM education initiatives, the First Lego League invites children and young people to take part in an exciting blend of research, creativity and robotics.

Now celebrating its 10th year in Ireland, more than 35,000 young people have taken part since the programme first launched here.

The event's hands-on learning approach not only builds technical skills, organisers say, but helps young people use technology meaningfully, encouraging independent thinking, clearer communication, and creative problem-solving rooted in real-world challenges.

This regional final was sponsored and supported by LOETB. The top team from this year’s First Lego League challenge will represent Ireland at the European championships this summer.