Bradford students bring home international robotics trophy from Canada

The school’s award-winning Incredilegos robotics team secured third place in the Innovation category at the prestigious Canada Cup of Robotics Niagara 2026, a major FIRST® LEGO® League international championship held at Canada Games Park in Ontario’s Niagara region.

More than 5,000 participants, mentors and spectators from 38 countries attended the event last week, organised by FIRST Robotics Canada in partnership with Brock University. Teams from around the world gathered to showcase their engineering, coding and problem-solving skills, with young competitors challenged to design, build, test and program robots capable of completing archaeology-themed missions as part of this year’s “Unearthed” challenge.

Year 12 BGS student Joseph D, who has been involved in the school’s robotics club for four years, said: “It’s wild to think that we were competing in Canada with highly experienced teams and were good enough to compete at the same level and win a trophy.”

The Incredilegos’ achievement builds on the team’s success last year, when they were crowned FIRST® LEGO® League UK champions and represented the country at an international competition in Florida. Earlier this year, the students finished second overall at the UK finals and won the coveted Robot Performance Award after recording the highest score in the country, earning their place in Canada.

BGS Head of Computer Science Nadeem Asghar, who leads the school’s popular LEGO robotics club, described the experience as one of the proudest moments of his career.

He said: “We quickly realised the standard of competition was extraordinary. These were seasoned international teams, many with corporate backing and resources on a completely different scale.

“The students had been awake for 23 hours and had no opportunity to test anything before competition day, yet they showed incredible aptitude and composure, representing both Bradford Grammar School and the wider Bradford community with distinction.”

Held over four days, the championship brought together some of the world’s strongest young robotics teams. Alongside the robot challenges, teams had to present an innovation project to expert judges and engineering professionals.

For the BGS team, that project focused on raising awareness of careers in archaeology. After consulting academics and industry specialists, the students developed an educational platform designed to introduce young people to the wide range of professions connected to the field. Their presentation earned the Incredilegos the third-place trophy in the coveted Innovation Award category.

“Watching them present was probably the number one peak teacher moment of my career,” said Mr Asghar. “The judges were rigorous in their questioning, but our students held their ground brilliantly. It was pure poetry.

“Beyond the scores and rankings, what has made me proudest is the impact our students had on the people around them. We were repeatedly told how much they stood out for their kindness, enthusiasm and spirit.

“One competition judge was so impressed by the team that he bought gifts for them during a visit to a local maple farm, and one of the event organisers made a point of seeking us out before we left simply to say that she would always remember the Incredilegos. Those moments mean just as much as the trophy.”

Year 7 pupil Ilma A said: “Winning felt unreal. Mr Asghar mentioned I should join the LEGO club at the start of Year 7 and I thought it sounded fun. I didn’t imagine it would lead to something like this. It’s surreal and I don’t think it has sunk in yet.”

Dr Simon Hinchliffe, Headmaster of BGS, said: “Nadeem and the students have demonstrated both the creativity and the generosity of spirit that lie at the heart of a Bradford Grammar School education.

“To see them represent both the school and the city of Bradford with such distinction on the international stage is a source of enormous pride for us all.”