London Academy Makes Its Mark on the 2007 Challenge
November 14th, 2007 by Eleanore8.25 on Monday morning and the London Academy in Edgware wakes up to a new week and its first Make Your Mark Challenge. All 180 Year 10 students are taking part and the hall is full: ‘Miss! What room am I in?’, ‘Miss! What’s the website?’, ‘Miss! Why don’t I have PE this morning?!’…
9am and the server graciously shudders into action just in time to download the challenge question…Globalocal? It takes a few moments, but soon the form room is chattering away, discussing the various merits of energy saving light bulbs, fair trade and Comic Relief and starting to come up with ideas of their own.
Even in a room of 20 students, it’s clear immediately just how varied a response this year’s Challenge will generate. Solar energy, youth clubs, Fairtrade and recycling feature prominently, but so do water fuelled engines, graffiti-ed handbags and computer games with a conscience.
The question posed is challenging and so too is the process – teamwork, active listening, peer leadership, not to mention focus and concentration, are all strongly in evidence. At different points in the day, there’s an opportunity for all the participants to really show their strengths.
Period 5 and a final check with form tutors that teams are pitch-ready: it’s time for the presenters to shine. Some impressive ideas emerge with eight teams making it through to a final round of pitching on Tuesday. As the day comes to an end, one of the teams is nervous. I hope my reassurance goes some way to convincing them their idea is really good. It really is!
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In a lull before the final pitches of the day, there is time to talk in more detail to one of the participants about her business studies retail project. It’s the marketing stage and she’s got lots of creative ideas to get her fashion idea off the ground. I ask if she plans to run her own business in the future? ‘It’s too early, Miss, I haven’t decided yet’. Does she think she could? ‘Yes, Miss, for sure.’
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A massive thank you to Helen Morgan and all the students and staff who gave me such a warm welcome on Monday. Best of luck with the next round of the Challenge and for all of your enterprising activities!
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