A Welwyn Garden City school’s robotics team achieved the best-ever finish by a British team in an international competition.

Stanborough School’s ‘Shark Robotics’ travelled to Kentucky to compete against the planet’s best 500 teams for the VEX World Championships title.

Entrants were required to develop a robot to complete a specific task – which this year was moving stars and cubes over a net while competing against another robot.

The Lemsford Lane school’s team had qualified after winning the national competition last month, and eventually reached the World Championships’ semi-final.

Mr Sahbi Benzid, curriculum leader for IT and computing, said: “The Sharks fought valiantly, but ultimately were defeated, won over by the excellent attacking play of the Opposing Alliance.

“Nonetheless, to progress so far in the competition was an outstanding achievement, and one that remains unmatched by any other British team.”

The group were then able to enjoy the tournament final in the flesh, before next season’s game was revealed.

Mr Benzid added: “Featuring more game objects and more technical difficulty than in preceding seasons, it promises to pose an exciting challenge for the next generation of Stanborough robotics engineers.”

The main sponsor for the school’s trip was Welwyn Garden City-based IT company ICE ICT.