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Teacher-student team, Jason Brajkovic, left and Connor Matthews. The winning build, Tornado, made by Finn Marley and Lucas Wallace-Smith.
Whangaparāoa College’s Lego competition proves that making things from little plastic bricks is as popular as ever – 100 students from Year 7 to 13, and even a teacher, ditched the lunchtime break to take part.
Fifty teams of two battled over 10 rounds, until just four teams remained standing for the final on Thursday August 22.
A school-wide vote deemed Year 8 students Finn Marley and Lucas Wallace-Smith the winners, for their Lego depiction of a tornado.
Each round, competitors had to create a structure that matched a theme, including vehicles, supernatural fantasy and world icons.
Creating a build that represented their school house elements was the theme for the final, that included teams from all four of the school’s Earth, Water, Fire and Air houses.
The competition was inspired by the TV show Lego Masters Australia.
“Almost all of the competitors watched Lego Masters – that’s where I got the idea from,” organiser and school librarian, Sam Martin, says. “The only thing holding it back initially was that I didn’t have enough Lego.”
This problem was quickly resolved thanks to a staff member’s daughter who works for Lego New Zealand. After Sam got in touch, Lego sent the school three tubs of bricks, each approximately 60 litres in size, to borrow for the competition, as well as prizes for everyone who took part.
“I was blown away. We had so much Lego we also got to use them in our classrooms,” Sam says. “We took it to one of our classes that struggle with normal lessons, and I have never seen them more engaged.”
Sam is now booked into a course to learn more about the cognitive and educational benefits of playing with Lego.
“Anything that gets the kids engaged in something other than their devices is a good thing,” she says.
