13 teams of Welsh schoolchildren go rocket-to-rocket at the UKROC regionals

  • 66 students took part in the inaugural Welsh regional finals of the 2025 UK Youth Rocketry Challenge (UKROC)
  • Haverfordwest High VC School are through to the UKROC 2025 National Finals
  • This year’s competition is set to be the largest and most geographically diverse in the competition’s almost 20-year history

Snowdonia (24 March 2025) – The inaugural Welsh regional finals of the 2025 UK Youth Rocketry Challenge (UKROC) saw 13 teams of students from 6 Welsh schools compete for a spot in the National Finals.

The competition sees teams of school children aged 11-18 design, build and launch a model rocket carrying a precious payload – an egg.

Haverfordwest High VC School have successfully advanced to the UKROC 2025 National Finals, where they will join other regional champions to compete for the national title.

Organised by ADS, the UK’s aerospace, defence, security, and space trade association, this year’s competition is set to be the largest and most geographically diverse in the competition’s nearly 20-year history.

Hosted at the Snowdonia Space Centre, the rockets were tasked with reaching an altitude of 790 feet and returning safely to the ground within a time window of 41-44 seconds.

Kevin Craven, CEO of ADS, said:

“A huge congratulations to all the students who participated in today’s activities. UKROC plays a vital role in developing the next generation of leaders for our industry. By offering hands-on experience, this competition inspires a passion for STEM, showing that our sectors offer exciting and rewarding career paths. The competition at the National Finals will be fierce, and we wish all the schools the best of luck for the competition ahead.”

Inaugural Welsh Competition

The Welsh regionals took place for the first time in 19 years thanks to funding from the UK Space Agency secured by the Snowdonia Aerospace Centre. This essential funding supported travel and equipment costs, helping to widen access to the competition for schools right across the region.

Jeremy Howitt, Snowdonia Aerospace Centre said:

“Today has showcased some incredibly talented and innovative young people from across Wales. As the proud hosts of today’s event, we congratulate all the schools for their remarkable effort – building a spacecraft is no small feat. Wales is a thriving hub of space innovation, and initiatives like these are helping to secure the future of our sector and provide the vital pipeline of talent we need. We encourage all participants to explore the rewarding and exciting opportunities available in our growing space sector.”

Qualifying teams will now refine their rockets before joining competitors for the National Final on 1 May in Buckminster.

The 2025 UKROC competition will see almost 200 teams of schoolchildren from throughout the UK compete in seven regional finals. The winners of the National final will head to Paris, where the UK will defend its two-year title as International Youth Rocketry Champions.

The 2025 competition is kindly sponsored by Airbus and Lockheed Martin.

 

UK retains International Youth Rocketry Championship Title

  • The UK Youth Rocketry Champions, Ampleforth College Rocket Club, have won the international edition of the competition, marking the UK’s second consecutive victory. 
  • The competition, held at Farnborough International Airshow, took place between France, Japan, the UK and the US  
  • The competition is strongly supported by the aerospace and defence industry as a part of combatting the significant skills shortages they face. 

Farnborough International Airshow (26 July 2024) – A team of students from Ampleforth College in Yorkshire has beaten teams from Japan, the USA and France to add the title of International Youth Rocketry Champions to their status at the UK Champions. 

The UK’s participation in the competition is facilitated by ADS, the trade association for the aerospace, defence, security and space sectors, to support STEM engagement in schools. A team from each country is tasked with designing, building and launching a model rocket to carry a fragile payload: a raw egg. 

The UK competition, and the UK’s participation in the international final, is sponsored by Airbus and Lockheed Martin. This is a prime example of industry giving their support to creating the next generation of STEM professionals. 

Skills shortages in STEM are a serious challenge for the UK economy, with the aerospace, defence, security and space sectors consistently reporting over 10,000 vacancies across their businesses. Furthermore, a July 2024 survey of ADS members found that recruitment is the area that the joint highest proportion of businesses plan to invest in or have already invested in across 2024. 

The event took place as part of Farnborough International Airshow’s Pioneers of Tomorrow, a day of the prestigious airshow dedicated to STEM-focused events designed to inspire and engage the next generation of aerospace leaders.   

Kevin Craven, CEO of ADS said: 

“Congratulations to Ampleforth College Rocket Club on their amazing victory, the second year in a row as international champions for the UK. The UK Youth Rocketry and International Youth Rocketry Challenges are fantastic examples of how our sectors are committed to encouraging young people across the UK into STEM careers. We touch more than 5000 young people globally with the Rocketry Competition and it is desperately important as our sectors continue to face significant skills shortages that hold back our ability to provide high skill, high productivity jobs for the economy. That is a challenge industry cannot solve alone, despite great initiatives like this. We must have partnership and adequate support from Government to unlock our full economic potential.” 

Matt Archer, Launch Director at the UK Space Agency, said: 

“As we countdown to the first vertical rocket launch from UK soil later this year, it is more important than ever for the whole of the space industry to be proactive in our support for the next generation of STEM professionals. A strong pipeline of talent is vital for our plans to grow this sector, and competitions like this play a significant role in giving students the chance to learn and to showcase their skills and ideas. Congratulations to Ampleforth College Rocket Club on becoming international champions.” 

UK Youth Rocketry Challenge final back with a blast

On Thursday 7 October 2021, six teams from across the country went head-to-head in a final to be crowned national champions. All they had to do was to design, build and launch a model rocket carrying a fragile payload (usually a raw egg) which is brought back to the ground safely and without breaking! It’s an opportunity for young people to get engaged in STEM in a fun and exciting way.

  • 1st Place: Team Vesuvius from King Edwards School, Bath
  • 2nd Place: Team NHASA from North Halifax Grammar School
  • 3rd Place: Team Icarus from Epsom College.

The honourable finalists were:

  • Physics Nerds from NHGS
  • Gordonstoun Rocketeers from Gordonstoun School
  • Where are My Engines, Holt? from Tiffin School

Congratulations and thanks to our sponsors Lockheed Martin and Royal Aeronautical Society for supporting the event.

UK Youth Rocketry Challenge (UKROC) Cancellation Statement 18.3.20

The welfare of everyone involved in participating and running the UK Youth Rocketry Challenge is of the utmost importance to us.

Following the Government’s advice to avoid unnecessary travel and non-essential contact with other people in support of its efforts to delay and prevent the spread of Coronavirus in the UK, it will no longer be appropriate to run the UK Youth Rocketry Challenge regional events that are due to commence from next week. Therefore, it is with regret that we announce the cancellation of this year’s competition.

We will re-focus our efforts in planning the competition for next year and for those schools involved this year, we will be contacting you very soon about carrying over your registrations. We look forward to welcoming participating schools to future editions of the UK Youth Rocketry Challenge and we will keep you updated on our future plans.

Please take care of yourselves and your families over the coming months.

Thank you for your support.

Best wishes
UK Youth Rocketry Team

Welcome to the new website

This week we – the UK Youth Rocketry Challenge (UKROC) – have launched our new look branding and website thanks to help from event organisers ADS and our sponsors and partners Lockheed Martin, UKspace and the Royal Aeronautical Society.

At UKROC, the UK’s largest youth model rocket competition, we aim to enthuse more young people about the subjects needed in aerospace, defence, security and space industries – science, technology, engineering and maths. We believe – and hope you do too – that it is a fun and engaging way for young people in the UK to learn more about engineering and physics.

Our new website reflects a revitalised approach to the competition, with a focus on greater engagement with you throughout the competition, an easier process to sign up and a more modern design. It’s UKROC as you’ve never seen it before!

You can now meet our rocketeers who will be guiding you through the process of building your rocket with hints and tips along the way! Pay attention to what they say as they’ll form part of the judging panels for the regional and national finals.

We will also be launching an Instagram page where we will be running competitions and hope to showcase participants’ progress throughout the competition.

Stay tuned and be sure to check back to our new website for the latest updates and information!