VEX & FIRST LEGO League Teams
Competition teams in Wellesley
VEX IQ, VEX V5 and FIRST LEGO League — a real season, a capped roster, and results that go on the record.
- Boston Parents Family Favorite seven years running
- Macaroni Kids Favorite 2026
- FIRST LEGO League & VEX Judges Award
- State finalists, FLL & VEX
- STEM.org accredited
- CSTA & NGSS aligned
Not a drop-in coding club. A ten-month program with a cohort, a competition team, and a monthly report that shows you exactly what your child built and why it mattered.
It runs alongside the belt, not instead of it
Most centers run a robotics team as a separate Saturday activity. Ours runs parallel to the Belt Program, on the same record. The robot your child builds goes into their portfolio. The season goes onto their transcript. The engineering they do for the team is the engineering their instructor writes about in the monthly report.
That is the whole design. A season that is disconnected from the curriculum is a hobby the family pays extra for. A season that feeds the curriculum is a year of work with a deadline attached.
The three tiers
| Tier | Program | Typical age | Season shape |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry | FIRST LEGO League Explore · VEX IQ intro | Grades 2–4 | About 16 weeks, 1.5 hours a week |
| Core | FIRST LEGO League Challenge · VEX IQ competitive | Grades 4–8 | About 20 weeks, two hours a week |
| Advanced | VEX V5 | Grades 8–12 | About 20 weeks, two hours a week, eight students to one coach |
How a place works
- Enrollment first. A roster place is for enrolled Belt or Studio students. The team is a reason to stay on the path, not a way around it.
- Real tryouts, in September. Not to exclude — to make the place worth having, and to give every student something to prepare for.
- Published caps, held. A roster is a roster. We will not add a seat to take another fee.
- Costs itemised. Registration, tournament entry and travel beyond a set radius are passed through at cost rather than buried in the season fee.
- Never bundled free. A team that costs nothing reads as a team that means nothing, and this one means something.
The frame that actually fits
Think of it the way you already think about a travel team.
A season, a roster, tryouts, a coach, tournaments, and a result at the end. Families in Wellesley have been evaluating that structure for years and know exactly what it is worth. This is the same structure, for engineering and code — and unlike a sports season, it compounds into something a sixteen-year-old can show a university.
What a season produces
A portfolio
Working apps, games, robots and websites they built themselves — not a certificate of attendance. Everything is saved to their own profile.
A team
The route into our VEX and FIRST LEGO League competition teams, with a real season, a capped roster and tournament results.
A transcript
A written report every month explaining what they covered, the concept behind it, and what comes next. A fuller one at the end of each belt.
Questions
Does my child have to be enrolled to try out?
Yes — a roster place is for enrolled Belt or Studio students. The team is a reason to stay on the path rather than a way around it, and it is how the season ends up on the same progress record as the rest of the year.
When are tryouts?
September, before the season starts. Tryouts are not there to exclude anyone. They are there because a place that is earned is valued, and because it gives every student a real deadline to prepare for.
How big is a team?
Small, and we publish the cap and hold it. FIRST LEGO League caps team size by rule; VEX teams are small by design. This is the one place in the business where scarcity is simply true, and we will not inflate a roster to take another fee.
What does a season cost?
A season fee on top of tuition, with tournament registration and travel beyond a set radius itemised and passed through at cost rather than hidden inside the headline number. Ask us for the current season sheet — we would rather give you the real breakdown than a round number that conceals it.
What if they are more interested in contests than robots?
Then ACSL, and later USACO. Same idea, no robot: a real contest calendar, a real result, and preparation aimed at it. Placement is by a short diagnostic, because selling a student a level they cannot yet handle helps nobody.
Where you’ll be
iCode of Wellesley · 73 Central Street, Wellesley, MA 02482
781-291-3131
Five minutes from Wellesley Middle School and a short drive from Schofield, Bates, Hardy, Hunnewell and Upham. Street parking on Central Street, plus the Municipal Way lot behind the building for pickup.
Tryouts are in September
Book a free evaluation and we will tell you which belt your child belongs in and whether a roster place is realistic this season.
