< Back to FIRST LEGO League Challenge

Teesside - Tournament Information for VOLUNTEERS

RCCC

Tournament Information Pack

Thank you so much for agreeing to help at our FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge Regional Tournaments. If it's your first year volunteering, we can’t wait for you to meet this year’s teams and see the excitement of a FIRST LEGO League tournament. If you have volunteered before then thank you so much for coming back! 

This page should contain everything you need to know about your assigned volunteering role. It explains the competition, as well as the logistics for the day and venue, so please read everything very carefully. 

Our Teesside regional tournament will take place at the Redcar and Cleveland College on Friday 12th December 2025.

Page Contents

Attending teams

Here are the school teams attending on the day:

Bewley Primary School
Carmel College
Corpus Christi RC Primary School
Errington Primary School
Hardwick Green Primary Academy
Hurworth School
Ian Ramsey CE Academy Team 1
Ian Ramsey CE Academy Team 2
Kirklevington Primary School
Macmillan Academy
Rift House Primary School
St Joseph's RC Primary School
St Peter's CE Primary School
St Gabriel's Catholic Primary School
Wheatlands Primary School
Whinstone Primary School

The competition challenges

FIRST LEGO League Challenge is a robotics and life skills STEM competition for 9 to 16-year-olds. Here's what the schools have been working on and how they will be judged at the tournament. 

The Challenge Overview Document.

Open document

This explains the four categories that make up the FIRST LEGO League Challenge competition. Teams will be scored on all four elements. They are equally weighted so successful teams will need to be strong in all areas. 

 

Back to top of page

Challenge overview 1

Volunteer information

The different volunteer roles are explained below:

Referees

  • Volunteers looking after The Robot Game are referred to as REFEREES. 
  • Referees observe and score the teams’ attempts at completing the Robot Game missions while making sure they stick to the rules. 
  • Teams will get three 2.5-minute Robot Game attempts spread throughout the day. Only their best score counts, unless there’s a tie-break.
  • The Head Referee will be there to oversee all the games and support and assist with any queries or questions from referees and teams. 
  • There are many rules to the Robot Game, all of which can be found in the Robot Game Rulebook
Photoshoot 1_-94

Our referees will be:

 

 

Judges

  • Volunteers scoring Core Values, The Innovation Project and Robot Design are referred to as JUDGES. 
  • Judges assess the teams in the categories of the Innovation Project, Robot Design and Core Values. All the judges in each judging team help with assessing all three categories.
  • Judges usually work as a team of three. 
  • Each judging session is scheduled for 45 minutes. The team will be with you for around 30 minutes of that time, which will then give you around 15 minutes to
FLL judges

discuss the team’s performance with your fellow judges, complete the online scoring rubrics and provide short written feedback for the teams.

  • In the judging session, your job is to give all teams a fair and positive experience and support them to make sure they tell you everything they can about what they’ve been working on. It will be natural for them to be nervous. Many won’t have had to present to a panel of adults before, so please give them a big smile and put them at ease as they enter. We are trying to support them to give their best performance.

 

Our judges will be:

Support volunteers and Runners

Volunteers will also support with some of the side activities we have running on the day. These vary year on year but usually involve lots of LEGO in various forms! Volunteers helping with this area are there to support or run the activities so teams know what they can do with each one. Volunteers should also help keep the activities tidy and in good order as teams come and go throughout the day. 

Runners will be helping the teams safely find their way to the judging rooms (and back) as some of the rooms are spread around the college building. 

We are happy for people in this team to rotate their roles with each other through the day if wanted. 

 

Our support volunteers and runners will be:

Back to top of page

Training for judges and referees

To assist you with your volunteering role, and to make sure our school teams are assessed consistently and accurately, training is required for those people taking on the role of judges and referees. 

 

Referee training (in-person)

Monday 8th December 9:00 am - 10:00am, @ Johnson Matthey, Billingham. 

Only those listed as referees above need to attend this training. In the session we will go over the rules of the Robot Game, getting hands on with the missions that the teams will be taking on, the process of preparing and resetting the Robot Game table and how to score the games. 

 

Key referee resources

 

Judges training (pre-recorded, online) 

Only those listed as judges above need to access this training. The session is provided as a video recording for you to watch in your own time. Please watch the video linked below. Links to the slides and other key resources are provided below for your reference. 

 

Training video

Key judge resources

 

Back to top of page

How the teams are judged and scored

The Robot Game - Referees

There are 15 Robot Game missions for the teams to attempt, which vary hugely in difficulty and complexity. They can do as many as they like, in any order in each 2.5 minute robot game. They must comply with all the rules in the Robot Game Rulebook. 

Each mission has set scoring criteria, which the referees will assess at the end of each game. Only their best score counts across the three games, unless there is a tie-break.

Referees use an online scoring system called the Event Hub which calculates each team’s score.

The judging session - Judges

The judging session lasts around 30 minutes for the teams with a further 10/15 minutes added on for the judges to complete their scoring. The structure of the session can be seen in this judging session flowchart.

Judges will assess and score:

 

The Innovation Project 

Teams are required to give an informative presentation about their Innovation Project. This can be as creative as they like and there are no rules about how the team should present their project.

The only rules are that:

  • They must complete their presentation in no more than 5 minutes, 
  • ALL team members must be part of the LIVE presentation,
  • Adult team coaches should not have any input during the delivery of the presentation. They may assist with technical support to teams at the start, if needed (e.g. connecting laptops etc to the presentation screens). 

 

UJSF

Team coaches should wait outside or quietly at the back of the room to encourage independence from the team. If needed, please remind coaches of this. 

All scoring in the Innovation Project section is done against the judging rubrics and completed on the online Event Hub system. Sample questions will also be provided to judging teams to help you tease out the information you need to score them in all areas. 

 

Robot Design

Robot Design assesses the following:

 

  • The technical design of the team’s robot, 
  • The processes they went through in designing, building and testing their robot.
  • Examples of the code they have written for their robot missions
  • Their strategy for the missions they chose, and why they selected those missions. 

 

This should all be part of the judging session conversations. Teams have the option of a robot design formal presentation or bringing some other way of demonstrating the way they have developed their robot over the season. 

 

They should bring their robot and the laptop or tablet they have used for programming it, so you can see first-hand the design of the robot, its attachments and an example of the code they have written. be sure to ask them to explain one of their programs. 

 

All scoring for Robot Design is done against the judging rubrics and completed on the online Event Hub system.

 

Demonstration of Core Values

The Project and the Robot game are WHAT the teams do, but the FIRST® LEGO® League Core Values are HOW they do it.

 

 

Teams will be judged on how they work together and how well they embody the core values of FIRST® LEGO® League. This will be part of the judging session conversations and also judged in part at the Robot Game tables where their Gracious Professionalism will be assessed as they compete. 

Scoring for Core Values has changed this year and has now been integrated into the rubrics for The Innovation Project and Robot Design. Criteria that relate to the Core Values can now be identified by the gear symbol on the rubrics.

 

 

Back to top of page

The Event Hub system

As mentioned above, marking and scoring the teams in all the different categories will be done online via the Event Hub system. Judges and referees will receive email invites to register on the system. Please accept these invites and ‘join the event’ straight away as they time out after a number of days, which will require us to resend them. Set up an account and make sure you have your login details with you on the tournament days you attend.

 

 

The Event Hub is really easy to use and just involves judges or referees ticking boxes on digital versions of the judging rubrics to indicate how the teams have scored. There are also spaces to leave feedback comments and the option to nominate teams for awards. 

 

Here’s an example of part of the Innovation Project marking page:

 

 

There will be two rubrics to complete per team (Innovation Project and Robot Design) so you need to work fairly quickly and make any discussions succinct and to the point. 

When you complete your scoring and feedback you submit the form and move on to the next team you’ll be meeting. 

The Robot Game also uses the Event Hub and is a similar process, although you can complete the scoring sheet while the team is present so you can discuss with them how they did and make sure they agree with the decisions made. The system will award all the correct marks for you as you tick ‘No/Yes’ for whether each mission has been achieved. It will also total up their final score for you. 

Here’s part of last year’s Robot Game scoring page.

 

 

Back to top of page

Awards

All scores are combined using the Event Hub system. Winners are then decided for the following categories:

  • The Innovation Project - Highest Innovation Project score
  • Core Values - Highest Core Values score
  • Robot Design - Highest Robot Design score
  • Robot Performance - Highest single Robot Game score
  • Judges Award - These can be awarded for anything. Judges are invited to nominate teams that shine if they feel they would be deserving of a judges award for any reason. 
  • Coaches Award - Teams are invited to nominate their coaches on the day, and to explain why they deserve this award.
  • Champions Award - Highest Innovation Project score

 

All students will also receive certificates and medals.

Trophies

Event logistics

Tournament date

Friday 12th December 2025

Tournament location

Redcar and Cleveland College,

Corporation Road,

Redcar,

TS10 1EZ

Parking

There is plenty of free on-site visitor parking at Redcar and Cleveland College

The schedule

08:30 - 08:45 - Volunteers arrive and prepare

Head to the volunteer registration desk and sign in. 

09:00 - Volunteer briefing

In the briefing we will give a quick run through of the day and let you know about any last minute updates and changes if they are required.

09:15 - Arrival and team registration opens

Registration opens at 9:15 and teams must arrive, at the latest, by 09:35 for the opening ceremony and safety briefing. 

09:45 - Opening ceremony and safety briefing

This will be held in the main hall where the pit areas are situated. Attendance is mandatory for everyone at the event.

Screenshot 2023-10-02 at 15.10.37

10:10 - Robot Game and judging elements begin 

11:45 - Lunch 

12:30 - Robot Game and other judging elements continue

14:00 - Robot Game Friendly Final

A final between the two highest scoring teams in the Robot Game (just for fun). It will not determine the winners of the robot performance award.

14:30 - Awards ceremony

15:00 - Close of day

When you arrive

Upon arrival, please sign in at the front desk. You will be shown to the event rooms. Please then.

  • Collect a name sticker
  • Collect a lanyard (judges and referees only)
  • Wait in the main hall for the volunteer briefing at 9:00am

Our team will show you where you will be based and explain what is expected from you during the day. 

Following that, greet some of the teams as they arrive. Help to make them feel welcome and settle their nerves, for most it will be their first experience of FIRST® LEGO® League and the venue.

Finally, make sure you are around for the opening ceremony and safety briefing at 9:40 am.

 

Dress Code

Please wear something casual and comfortable but appropriate for working with children. We’d recommend layers as room temperatures can be unpredictable!

 

Food and Drink

Volunteers should bring their own lunch on the day. Drink refreshments will be provided throughout the day for everyone.  

 

Photography and Video

Please do not take photos or videos of the students at the event without permission from their teachers. Schools are asked to provide photo and video permission forms for all students and there are, on occasion, students who cannot have their image captured. These students should be wearing lanyards, but please still check with school staff and be mindful of where images are shared. Do not include any student names alongside images you post online.

 

Socials

Please feel free to share your experience of the event on your social channels, while being extremely careful of the images you post. Please make sure that you have consent from anyone featured in images and check really carefully for students wearing red 'no photo' lanyards.

You can tag and connect with us and the IET with the following social media handles and hashtags:

 

X / Twitter

 

Facebook

 

LinkedIn

 

Hashtags

  • #firstlegoleague
  • #Unearthed
  • #FLLTeesside

 

Back to top of page

Beyond the regional tournament

Our champion team will be invited to attend the  FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge Great Britain final. This event will be taking place at the Harrogate Convention Centre on Saturday 3rd May 2025. More information about this will be provided to the winning team after the regional tournaments. 

Successful teams at the national finals are invited to attend international FIRST LEGO League events all around the world!

Contact details

If you have any issues on or before the day, please contact the event leader:

Neil Brown

 

Thank you again for supporting our Teesside regional event. We are really grateful that you can give up your precious time to help. If you have any questions or problems, please get in touch.

Back to top of page