If your school or community group is doing something practical to conserve biodiversity, why not make a short news report about it and enter a competition from the Natural History Museum? The first prize is £500 for the winning group in each age category to visit to a local biodiversity site of special interest and class copies of a biodiversity book. Winners will be invited to a VIP event at the Natural History Museum to collect their prize and present their film. They will also go on a behind-the-scenes tour and meet a Museum scientist. Second prizes are class copies of a biodiversity book, free exhibition tickets and the opportunity to meet a Museum scientist.
There are two entry categories; ages 7–11 years (Key Stage 2 or equivalent) and ages 11–14 years (Key Stage 3 or equivalent). Groups of up to 10 children should submit a short video, no longer than two and a half minutes, reporting on a local biodiversity project. Entries can be uploaded and viewed on the competition website and the closing date is 31 August 2010. Good luck!
Practical Action (a development charity that focuses on the use of sustainable technology in Africa, Asia and South America) have joined forces with Primary Engineer to offer a Special Leaders Award. The award is available for three ages groups: Primary (5-11), Secondary (11-16) and advanced (17-19).
To obtain the award, students need to provide evidence that they have been actively involved in promoting STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) in their school and to interview someone who works in this area.
For our award pupils need to interview someone working in an area related to the development of technologies, products or services which incorporate sustainability as a key factor. The winners for each group will receive a solar powered media player. The winner of the advanced level will also spend a day working with a sustainable product designer.
The deadline for interviews and Leaders Award applications (via email only) is 30th June 2010. Find out more on the Practical Action and Primary Engineer sites.
Teachers can win a class trip to see the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of ‘Roald Dahl’s Matilda, A Musical’, plus an RSC Education workshop. Pupils who make a nomination could win one of 25 Roald Dahl goody bags. Is there someone at your school who you could reward by making a nomination?
Here’s a quick reminder about our special competition where you can win a copy of Percy Parker’s Flying Bathtub. Entries close this Friday 4th June, so send your entries in now!
For the fifth year running, development charity Sightsavers, is inviting primary school children across the UK to take part in the 2010 Junior Painter of the Year competition and paint their vision of the future.
The competition, run by Sightsavers in partnership with the Royal Academy Schools, aims to promote the use of paint in school classrooms, whilst encouraging children to reflect on sight and blindness amongst their peers. Last year over 15,000 entries were submitted by children aged 4-11 and this year’s theme Visions of the Future is set to generate even more.
The winning young painters will have their work exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, alongside works by the famous artist and illustrator Quentin Blake CBE, and the renowned artist and Keeper of the Royal Academy of Arts, Professor Maurice Cockrill RA.
Three national winners, one from each category (4-7 years, 8-9 years and 10-11 years), will be selected from a list of regional winners. They will then enjoy a fun-packed day out in London with their teachers in the autumn and attend the awards ceremony at the Royal Academy of Arts where their paintings will be the central focus of the exciting exhibition. Plus one lucky teacher will win a one-of-a-kind painting by Professor Cockrill in a new award category for 2010 called the Maurice Cockrill award. This will be presented to the teacher who has inspired their pupils’ creativity the most when developing the theme.
Schools interested in participating in the awards this year can find more at: www.sightsavers.org/juniorpainter or by contacting the Junior Painter of the Year competition Helpline on 01444 446 768 for a free awards pack. Entries must be submitted by 14 September 2010.
Cancer Research UK is encouraging primary school pupils to learn how to enjoy the sun safely by taking part in the 2010 SunSmart Competition. You can win a state of the art shade canopy worth over £3,000 for your school playground. Key stage 1 and 2 pupils are eligible to enter and the deadline for entries is 18th June 2010.
To make it fun and easy for teachers to engage their pupils with the competition and learn about sun safety, the charity has also developed free classroom resources including a downloadable animation for interactive whiteboards, lesson plans, stickers and class worksheets. In addition to covering points on the PSHE syllabus, the competition activities and resources can also be tied into a school’s ‘creative curriculum’.
I have been receiving details about lots of competitions for schools recently, so I thought that I would write one post with information about all of them. Why not get your pupils involved?
Maximap are offering a British Isles MaxiMap for schools entering this competition. Staff or pupils can enter by writing a letter to Alun Wyn. Entries should be submitted by Friday 11th June 2010. Find out more.
Schools all over the UK are invited to submit a team for the UK’s first Youth Scrabble Fest which takes place in Shropshire on 4th and 5th June and is open to all UK primary and secondary schools. Teachers wishing to register or find out more should visit www.youthscrabble.org or contact youthscrabble@absp.org.uk.
The Young Darwin Prize is a competition to find the best nature news videos. Groups of children can submit a short video, no longer than two and a half minutes, reporting on a local biodiversity project. You can start planning and filming anytime from now. Entries must be uploaded onto the competition website from 22 May 2010. The closing date is 31 August 2010. Find out more.
The Digital Camera Young Photographer of the Year competition is the leading UK contest for photographers aged 17 and under and is dedicated to encouraging and revealing new photographic talent. Submissions for the contest are accepted from Monday, 19th April until Tuesday, 14th September across three age-groups; under 10s, 11-15 years and 15-17 years. The winning image in each category will receive a cash prize of up to £250 each. There is also a downloadable education pack on the site.
Try this ABTA Schools Art Challenge to design three postcards to represent the past, present and future of travel and holidays. The deadline for entries is 10th June 2010 and there are lots of prizes on offer, including holidays for schools, teachers and pupils! Find out more.
As the summer weather approaches, many teachers will be thinking about ways of teaching children the importance of staying safe in the sun. Sunwise Learning is a new site offering games and activities for children, as well as lots of lesson ideas and resources for teachers.
As a teacher, you can also register for a free newsletter. Each week during the summer term the Funshine News will be delivered to teachers inboxes, packed full of links to teaching resources, sports news, jokes for the classroom, weather forecasts and much more. There is also a special competition where primary school children have to design a PE kit for The Sunwise Set who are NIVEA SUN’s ambassadors in school. The winning schools will win a personal visit by The Sunwise Set plus lots of other fun prizes.
New research from the School Food Trust has shown for the first time that poor quality canteens are the biggest barrier to children’s uptake of school food. The Trust is concerned the amount of time, money and effort which has been put in over the past five years to transform school food could be wasted if school canteens are not fit for purpose.
To combat this, they have recently launched the School Food Trust’s Canteen Rescue campaign to raise awareness about the small improvements that schools can make to their canteen. At the heart of the campaign is a competition giving schools the chance to win a professional makeover for their canteen. Pupils and teachers can send designs for a new canteen and the winner will be judged by a host of celebrities.
Here’s a Youtube video which explains a little more about the competition.
To find out more about the competition and to get involved yourself, visit the Canteen Rescue site.
My World in 60 Seconds is a film project for 11-14 year olds, set up by the Geographical Association, to create an alternative guide to our world, a guide that is created by you. The organisers want to re-present the world as people know it, so they are looking for young people to make short films that are thought provoking, insightful and engaging.
60 seconds is just long enough to guide someone through part of your world, to show what it is really like for you. The best films can appear on BBC Big Screens across the country. A panel of judges will watch all the films and the ones that in their opinion best reflect what we are looking for could be shown. These films will also appear online as part of a guide to our world.
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