Students have taken their passion for science and engineering to new heights by competing in the UK Youth Rocketry Challenge (UKROC), a nationwide competition that challenges young people to design, build and launch their own model rockets.

The student team, Daniel, Fred, Chenrui, Dylan, Oliver and Megan, embarked on the project as a student-led initiative, supported by staff including Rachel Milhofer (Head of Chemistry) and Sarah Senior (Head of Physics).

Preparation for the competition involved far more than simply building a rocket. Students were responsible for recruiting team members, researching the challenge requirements and managing the full design and construction process. With support from the Design and Technology department, they developed practical engineering skills while also navigating logistics, risk assessments and project planning.

Rachel Milhofer praised the team’s efforts: “Our STEAM scholars are always looking for new challenges to inspire them and extend beyond the curriculum. I have been delighted to support three of them as they chose to enter the UKROC. This started with them recruiting team members, investigating the challenge and designing and building their rocket, using their practical skills and support from the DT department as well as learning about logistics and risk assessments. There have been frustrations along the way, not least when our trip to the test launch was cancelled due to inclement weather, but these help build key attributes necessary for successful project management such as resilience. Their leadership and teamwork has been really impressive. It is exciting to see a student-led initiative coming to fruition with the competition heats.”

Despite setbacks, including weather-related disruptions to testing, the team adapted and persevered, developing resilience that is central to both engineering and real-world project work.

Megan (Year 12), ecstatic about the project, commented: “I love anything to do with space and rockets and I thought it would be beneficial for what I wanted to do; Aerospace Engineering. I have loved working with my team and learning every time we got to gather information. I loved applying what we learnt to real life experiences. The opportunities for STEAM at LP are amazing, there is a wide variety and I am spoiled for choice”. Fred (Year 12) added: "Doing the UKROC was a really challenging experience which was also really fun and rewarding. As an entirely student led project it was really interesting to organise the project and manage the team while learning how to build a rocket from sketch with none of us having built anything like it before. Overall it was an amazing experience and it taught me a lot about teamwork, physics, simulation, manufacturing and so much more." Daniel (Year 12) also found the experience valuable to his future-readiness: "Being a part of the UKROC team was an amazing experience that was both enjoyable and valuable for the future. Doing everything completely from scratch with no prior experience was very challenging however this made the successful launches even more rewarding and exciting to watch. I can't wait to be involved in UKROC again and would love to see it continue and grow at LP."

The UKROC competition, organised by ADS (the trade association for the aerospace, defence, security and space sectors) has been running for over 20 years. It invites students aged 11–18 to design rockets capable of carrying a fragile payload to a specific altitude and duration, with rules changing each year to encourage innovation.

The competition structure includes six regional heats, with the highest-scoring team from each progressing automatically to the UK National Final. An additional 20 top-performing teams will compete at the National Final in Buckminster, Grantham, on 25 June. From there, the UK’s winning team will advance to the International Final, held at the Farnborough International Airshow on 23–24 July 2026, where they will compete against teams from the USA, France and Japan.

UKROC continues to play a vital role in inspiring students to pursue STEM pathways, offering hands-on experience in engineering, teamwork, and innovation. For the Leighton Park team, the journey has already been a launchpad for developing skills that will serve them well into the future.

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