School Tasking…
Coventry University has hosted the regional finals of School Tasking which enables young people to learn about interesting aspects of the law through fun and interactive tasks set in the style of Channel 4’s Taskmaster.
The regional finals saw a team of Year 5 pupils from Stoke Heath Primary School in Coventry take the crown and they will now attend the Champion of Champions Final 2024 competing against teams from across the UK in a live show hosted by Taskmaster favourite Alex Horne.
School Tasking is an outreach project aimed at supporting schools in less advantaged areas and is run by The University of Warwick’s Law School who joined forces with Coventry University to host the regional finals.
Sabba Anmol, a second-year Law student from Coventry University, has been volunteering on the project and working with the children from Stoke Heath Primary School.
“The whole purpose of the project is to make sure that the law is always accessible to young kids as well as everyone else. We’ve been able to create activities to make it easier for kids to understand and by participating in fun tasks it gets them to think in their own way about the law and language.
“As the weeks progressed during the in-school sessions of the competition, we introduced the children to some of the most interesting areas of law and you could tell in their work how much they started to understand so many aspects of it as well as seeing the confidence and enthusiasm grow. It also helps me on my course as I have to make sure I know what I’m talking about to be able to explain the tasks to the children and help them to complete them.” – Sabba Anmol
Tasks at the regional final included an animation task using Lego which was based on leading English criminal case from 1884 – R v Dudley and Stephens which established a precedent throughout the common law world that necessity is not a defence to a charge of murder – and Release Alex from the Box which required the pupils to solve a number of puzzles to find the code for the key safe to release a tiny little Alex Horne.
Dr Ali Struthers, creator of School Tasking and Associate Professor in The University of Warwick’s Law School, said: “I was so delighted when Coventry Law School joined the School Tasking team, enabling the project to work with even more schools in the local area. The regional final was a joy for children, staff and students alike, and the teams were so engaged and enthusiastic throughout. We can’t wait to see Stoke Heath’s ‘Out of This World’ team at the Champion of Champions grand final with their army of cheering supporters in the audience for the show.”
The primary outreach project has now become a national competition in 32 universities and working with up to 6,000 children across the UK and Ireland, from Aberdeen to Kent and Newcastle to Cardiff.
Stoke Heath Primary School competed against other teams of five or six Year 5 pupils from Lower Farm Primary School in Walsall, Victoria CP School in Wrexham, Paddox Primary school in Rugby and Granby Primary School in Leicestershire. The Champion of Champions Final 2024 took place last night (18 June) at Warwick Arts Centre.
