Creative card game idea wins County Schools Challenge Grand Final

An educational card game designed to help prevent arson was the winner at this year’s County Schools Challenge Grand Final. 

Last Monday (July 3), students from eight schools across the county presented their social enterprise ideas, on this year’s theme of preventing deliberate fire setting, to a ‘Dragons’ Den’ style panel of judges at the Castle Theatre in Wellingborough.

Earlier this year, all Northamptonshire secondary schools were given the challenge of coming up with entrepreneurial ideas on the theme of arson prevention. They were asked to identify reasons why young people deliberately set fires and come up with products or services to prevent deliberate fire setting. 

The schools that competed in the Grand Final were:

• Corby Technical School
• The Duston School, Northampton
• Huxlow Science College, Irthlingborough
• Lodge Park Academy, Corby
• Isebrook SEN College
• Kettering Buccleuch Academy
• Manor School, Raunds
• Northampton School for Boys

 

During the Grand Final, schools presented their ideas to a panel of judges made up of Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Stephen Mold, Northamptonshire Police Chief Constable Nick Adderley, Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service’s former Chief Fire Officer Mark Jones, Debbie Lloyd, Assistant Director Northamptonshire Children’s Trust, and Matt Gillatt, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and National lead for Firesetters.

This year’s winning team was Corby Technical School, who designed an educational card game targeted at young people to help prevent arson. They walked away with trophies, goody-bags, and £2000 funding to help make their idea become a reality.

The first Northamptonshire County Schools Challenge was launched in 2009. That year, the competition was won by a team from Weavers School in Wellingborough, who designed an educational DVD and bin sticker to help combat wheelie bin arson in the area. To date there has been a 60 per cent reduction in wheelie bin fires and the products have been used internationally, with the film shown in Europe, Australia and America.

Thank you to all the schools involved in this year’s County Schools Challenge, and to the teachers, parents and volunteers who put in time and effort to make it a successful event.