IT was plain sailing for pupils at St Joseph's RC Primary School as they recently won a naval engineering competition.

A new iPad is their reward after impressing judges in the challenge hosted by UKNEST in collaboration with the Royal Navy.

Pupils at the Kelty school were tasked with designing a specialised vessel for delivering humanitarian aid in the aftermath of a natural disaster.

All entries were reviewed by an expert panel of judges who considered their initial concept, proposed design and artwork.

The HMS Prince of Scotland, designed by St Joseph's, emerged as the winner in the Years 1-6 category.

Commander Neil Benstead of the Royal Navy, one of the competition judges, said: "Once again, the quality of the entries was very high and made the judges consider the various aspects of the designs produced by the entrants. "The participants used their imaginations to develop innovative ways to provide aid in real-world situations which we often see in the media.

"The challenge set by the UKNEST Naval Engineering Competition encourages young people to solve problems and open their eyes to the wonder and opportunities of a career in engineering.

“This year’s competition entries exhibited some wonderful examples of creativity and out of the box thinking.

"Fold out bridges, drone swarms and a ‘tadpole tail’ rear loading jetty provided innovative solutions to the problem of how to provide aid in challenging conditions."

The HMS Prince of Scotland featured a helicopter landing pad and other unique features - including a submarine - perfect for a vessel required in the event of a natural disaster.