Editor's choice June 2008

We’re the Kids in America

Five children from Clifton Primary School and Learning Mentors Mandy Sheldon and Sandra Fortnum joined 1,032 teams from around the world in the global finals of the Destination Imagination competition during May.

Children from 16 countries converged upon the southern United States of America in the City of Knoxville in Tennessee to compete for honours in the world’s largest critical thinking and creative problem solving competition. The trip to America by the year 5 pupils followed a successful first place position in the regional finals held at the Bradford Academy.

During the regional finals 200,000 children in over 56 countries began the process of competing to take part in the final. 7,000 children eventually made it through to the 25th global finals.

A combination of the school, parents and local community helped to raise the funds to send the Clifton School representatives on their weeklong trip.

However for Sandra, Mandy and the children the trip was just one part of a long journey that would not have been the success it was with out the support of the parents. Sandra said of the parents, “Their support for the initiative and trust in the school and its staff made myself and Mandy feel honoured”.

The Clifton team competed in the ‘Hit or Myth’ challenge in which they had to scientifically prove or disprove a myth. Prior to travelling to the United States the pupils, coordinated by Mandy and Sandra, built their own props using recycled materials and carried out research into the challenge. In addition to taking their own clothes in suitcases the group had to take their props with a large papier-mâché bulls head occupying a suitcase of its own.

Buddy Team

During the weeklong event each team in the competition was paired off with what they called a ‘Buddy Team’. For the Clifton School team, which had four children that could speak Arabic, being greeted by the group leader of their Buddy Team in Arabic was a welcome surprise. By the end of the week the children from Hollymede Elementary School from Virginia State and Clifton School had swapped addresses to stay in touch.

Appalachian Mountains

As part of the trip the group went on an outing to the Appalachian Mountains where they gained an insight into the lives of the early settlers. As well as seeing the types of homes they lived in the children tried some of the games and toys that the settler’s children would have played and tried their hand at riding horses.

Facilities

With a campus the size of Kings Heath, the University of Tennessee provided an amazing insight into the lives of US students. Along with the libraries and lecture theatres the campus included an Olympic sized outdoor swimming pool comprising 12 dedicated swimming lanes, a five stack diving board, smaller pool attached and further indoor Olympic pool. Over the course of the week the Clifton pupils learnt to swim properly without floats and enjoyed events with teams from all over the world.

“Taking the group to America for the competition was a fantastic opportunity to introduce the students to new experiences. I certainly wouldn’t have had their confidence when I was ten years old and to see the children enjoying and learning new things throughout the whole trip was fantastic. This is the second year we have competed and we will definitely be competing again,” said Sandra.