Pupils from Eastfield Academy in Northampton have been crowned winners of the East Midlands regional final of School Tasking, held at University of Northampton (UON) last week.
Competing as Team Beferly Hills, the Year 5 pupils impressed judges by performing the best in a series of whimsical challenges and will now go on to the national ‘Champion of Champions’ final, which will take place this summer at Warwick Arts Centre.
Developed in 2021 by Dr Ali Struthers at Warwick Law School, School Tasking draws inspiration from the TV show Taskmaster, encouraging pupils to explore legal ideas through imaginative and often unconventional challenges.
The East Midland final, hosted by UON’s Schools Engagement (Widening Access) Team, saw the best schools compete from Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire and the overall School Tasking project involves more than 30 universities across the UK and Ireland.
Backed by the show’s producers, Taskmaster creator Alex Horne provided videos of himself setting the challenges, which among other concepts explored trademarks through the medium of biscuits and saw teams transporting rice in a sieve in a lateral thinking challenge.
The initiative has a two-way benefit as university students from a wide range of degree courses act as ambassadors and run the in-school competitions to select the regional finalists.
Dr Simon Sneddon, UON’s Professor of Learning and Teaching Innovation said hosting the regional final highlights the University’s commitment to widening participation, adding: “School Tasking gets children thinking about higher education at a young age in a really engaging way.
“It benefits the pupils tremendously, but also UON has 10 students who acted as ambassadors and helped bring legal ideas to life, the same legal concepts they are exploring on their courses in law, environmental science, biology and others.”
Dr Struthers, Associate Professor (Reader) at University of Warwick said: “The aim isn’t to push children into university—it’s to help them see that it’s an option. If they come away knowing they have choices and feeling confident about their future, then that’s a real success.”
To find out more, visit the School Tasking website, or find out more about widening access to higher education on the UON website.