Pupils head pole to pole

Cuba, Ecuador, Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan were among the countries studied by pupils at the Minster School, Southwell, as part of a project.

In groups, pupils aged 11 and 12 followed lines of longitude from the North Pole to the South Pole and created presentations on countries that the line crossed.

Two groups shared first place.

Jessica Rockrickt (12) Jo Thompson (12) Daisy Straw (12) and Jack Watson (12) did a presentation on Canada, Cuba, Panama and Ecuador.

They dressed as the flight crew of an aeroplane and explained the information to the audience as though they were passengers on the flight.

At the end of the presentation they did a Weakest Link-style quiz using members of the audience.

Jessica said: “We tried to make it more interesting than just a normal presentation.”

Freya Hodgkin (12) Seb McNish (12) Sally Smith (12) and Alister Robson (11) followed a line of longitude through China, Kazakhstan, and Sri Lanka.

They created Chinese-themed music, showed fabrics and instruments from the countries and gave out prawn crackers.

The school’s head of humanities, Mr Andy Wall, organised the competition.

He said the contest was a cross curriculum event as it included the music, geography and religious eduction departments.

He said: “It is important because it gives students the opportunity to develop group work, presenting and researching skills.

“It is quite scary for them to begin with when they realise they have got to perform a presentation in front of their peers, but once they get going they take it very seriously and they all encourage each other.

“Generally the standard is quite high and this year was as good as previous years.”