Competitions for Primary Schools & Pupils 2017/2018
Inspire, Engage, Reward. School Competitions are a welcome resource to add diversity to the classroom schedule.
School Competitions offer opportunities to inspire pupils to engage with subjects in more depth offering rewards as encouragement. The competitions below are all open at some point during the upcoming school year.
2017
The Nancy Rothwell Award
Brief: The Nancy Rothwell Award celebrates specimen drawing in schools and highlights the benefits of combining art and science.
Entry: Electronic entry by 11th September 2017
Opinion: You and your class will have to be quick off the mark to enter this competition but with a £250 prize for the winning entry it may be worth the effort! This could provide a welcome introductory challenge for pupils to break them into the new school year with a tangible deadline with the winner being announced in October.
DVLA Code Challenge 2017
(for Welsh schools only)
Brief: DVLA is running a Wales National Coding Challenge for 7 to 11-year-olds, in association with Code Club and the STEM Ambassador hub Wales, Incredible Oceans, Brake, The four Police Forces in Wales and School Beat, Road Safety Wales, The Fire and rescue Service and the British Army. The challenge will enable interested pupils to develop their problem solving, communication and teamwork skills as well as improving their knowledge of computer programming in a fun and innovative way and also win thousands of pounds of IT equipment for their schools or Groups.
Entry: Email entry by Friday 6th October 2017
Opinion: An excellent opportunity to delve into coding for schools in Wales, with an enormous IT giveaway prize of up to £3,000 of equipment.
National Young Mathematician’s Awards
Brief: The National Young Mathematicians’ Awards are the only team maths competition for primary schools in the UK. The competition, now in its eighth year, is run in conjunction with the NRICH project at the University of Cambridge and is designed to inspire and challenge talented mathematicians from across the UK.
The competition consists of three rounds. The first is a regional knock out undertaken at an Explore Learning centre. This year it will take place on 8th or 9th November 2017. Winners go through to the Semi-Final, which will be held on 29th November 2017, where school teams battle it out against other top schools in their region to try and win a space at the Grand Final taking place at the University of Cambridge on 13th December 2017.
Entry: Entry by November 2017
Opinion: As the popularity of mathematics grows why not set competition glory as an enticing target for budding mathematicians in your school?
2018
Tesco Bank Art Competition for Schools 2018
Brief: Welcome to the Tesco Bank Art Competition for Schools 2018 closing date Friday 27 April 2018. There are six categories, each with a different theme inspired by your national collection and 85 fantastic ways to win. Entry to the competition means you can apply for £100 of funding for art materials or a free artist-led workshop at the National Galleries of Scotland with travel expenses paid.
Entry: Entry by 27th June 2018
Opinion: With a number of categories this competition allows themed entry for the whole school: Nursery, Years 1-3 and Year 4-7. Not only is there a vast array of prizes, but entry alone offers immediate rewards.
Young Enterprise Fiver Challenge
Brief: The Fiver Challenge provides a highly interactive, fun way of introducing financial numeracy, resilience and teamwork in learning for primary school pupils. Pupils have 1 month to set up a mini business and create a product or service they can then sell or deliver at a profit and engage with their local community.
Entry: Competition time June 2018 (registration opens 19th March 2018)
Opinion: This is possibly our favourite challenge of the year in the HeadStart office. An exciting way to bring applicable maths into the classroom and for pupils to develop a number of key interaction skills. Be sure to sign up early as the funding for this competition is limited.
Ongoing Entries
Terrific Scientific from the BBC
Brief: Terrific Scientific is an ambitious campaign from the BBC. Our goal is to inspire primary school pupils to discover their inner scientist.
Entry: All year
Opinion: With investigations and challenges being added to the project throughout the year this should provide consistent resources for teaching science.
CREST Star Awards
Brief: Launched in 2007, CREST Star supports children to solve real life STEM challenges through practical investigation and discussion,
CREST Star is usually done by 5 to 7 year olds. The awards can be run in schools, clubs, or at home. CREST Star challenges give children the chance to participate in hands-on science through enquiry-based learning.
Entry: All year
Opinion: With 8 1-hour challenges and a low entry fee the Star Awards provide an opportunity for repeated engagement with science.
FIRST LEGO Junior League
Brief: FIRST® LEGO® League Jr. is an exciting Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) programme for 6-9 year olds. Through meaningful team-based relationships between peers and adults, FIRST® LEGO® League Jr. participants engage in valuable STEM experiences relevant to the world around them.
Entry: All year
Opinion: Bring STEM to life and incorporate vital team and interactive skills into the classroom with the added incentive of league glory for your school! Register now for next year’s competition.
Other Competitions to Keep an Eye On
Entry to these competitions has not yet gone live but we anticipate they will be available for entry soon. Bookmark the URLs below and check in. We will have an update post later in the year.
National Young Writers’ Awards
https://www.explorelearning.co.uk/national-young-writers-awards/
National Schools’ Handwriting Competition
http://handwritingcompetition.co.uk/
European Youth Space Contest
https://www.odysseus-contest.eu/skywalkers/
British Science Week 2018 Competition
Good luck to all of you for your entries. We wish you all the best!
We would love to see your competition entries, please be sure to email them through to info@headstartprimary.com or tweet them to @HeadStart_UK.
If we have missed any competitions you think we should share, please let us know.
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