General News
5 September, 2026
Gearing up for Energy Breakthrough
GREAT Western Primary School is gearing up to take part in this year’s Energy Breakthrough, with its senior students already getting stuck into preparations for the big event scheduled for November.
The team will combine knowledge and experience gathered over the past few years to build their ultimate human-powered vehicle, while also preparing for the physical demands of the competition.
Great Western student Finlay said preparations were still in the early stages.
“We haven't done too much yet, we've got some sponsorships,” she said. “We are trying to start training, we are getting there. We haven't built our push cart yet.”
Rather than starting from scratch, the team plans to take the best elements from vehicles built in previous years.
“What we are going to do is get all our best features from all of them and make it into one push cart,” Finlay said.
With Great Western Primary having only eight students manning the cart this year, the team will also have to carefully manage their resources throughout the competition.
“It is a bit harder because we don't have as many people, so we need more people to run two or three times in two or three races,” said Finlay.
Fellow student Lane said the experience of competing was a major part of the appeal, recalling his own experience in 2025.
“I was pushing and driving when I did the sprint. It's really fun, the adrenaline.”
Principal Kerri-Ann Harris said Energy Breakthrough provided students with valuable learning opportunities both inside and outside the classroom.
“It's a really worthwhile experience because it covers a lot of the curriculum, but there's that teamwork, working together, there's that sense of competition. There's being proud of the fact that we are a small school but everyone gets to compete.”
The entire school community benefits from the event, with students, staff and families coming together to support the team, camp and contribute wherever they can.
Ms Harris said the fundraising and sponsorship process was also an important learning experience for students, with public speaking being a key part of the Energy Breakthrough Challenge.
“It's that having to get out and explain themselves to ask for sponsorship, it's being able to explain the program, not just saying ‘Can you sponsor us? It's explaining the value of the program and what their money goes towards, so it's really worthwhile and the kids do a great job.”
Great Western Primary has been involved in Energy Breakthrough for over ten years, with Ms Harris saying the program’s longevity was partly due to students growing up expecting to participate.
“We've done it for twelve years now and the longevity of the program has been because we take our juniors and they expect every year that they hit the senior class that they are going to be involved and participate.”
Training began several weeks ago, with students working to gradually build their endurance before incorporating the push cart into their sessions.
“We've started a couple weeks ago, trying to increase their endurance over time and then incorporate the push cart.”
“And in the next couple weeks we will start with the push cart.”
Read More: Great Western