A lockdown competition has seen 3D printed artwork, thousands of press-ups and marshmallow sculptures created at a Warwickshire school.
Arnold Lodge School (ALS) is a leading Leamington-based Co-educational Independent School and has been testing pupils’ abilities with a lockdown house competition.
The winning entries include a 3D printed reimagining of the famous artwork A Friend in Need, a song written about life in lockdown and a gymnast who completed her routine 20 times a day, taking the total 1864 times – the year ALS was founded.
Pupils in both the Junior and Senior Schools from ages four to 18, were able to enter the Sports, Art, Music, Drama, English and STEM categories, with a winner being crowned for each.
Winners were awarded House points for their school house of either Dedicas, Veritas or Amicus, which represent hard work, honesty and kindness, with a Junior and Senior School winner announced for each category.
Rob Scott, Head of Dedicas house and Sports Teacher, said: “We wanted to challenge pupils across the core subjects to try something new and have some time away from their screens during lockdown.
“The STEM category was a particular favourite with pupils and even staff who took on the challenge to create the largest or most interesting sculpture out of spaghetti and marshmallows, with Archie, Year 7.
“We have been very impressed with the standard of entries from pupils. They have all really committed to getting involved with each category – Rhys in year 8 did 1864 keepie uppies for the sports category whilst Lucy, Year 3, completed 1864 performances of her gymnastics routine!”
Oliver Hawkins, Head of Veritas house, added: “Typically, the house competitions take place across the year with competitive events, but as this year is slightly different, we wanted to encourage pupils to try something fun outside of their remote learning lessons at home.
“We were also impressed with entries in the English category, which featured book reviews from throughout the school, whilst the Music category saw a real diverse mix of entries with Kasper, Year 4 writing his own song.”
Philip Dobson, Head of Amicus house and Teacher of Drama, said: “We received some excellent monologues and performances for the Drama category, with Elysia, Year 10 and Alexander, Year 1, winning the overall prizes.
“It’s been wonderful to see so many pupils across the whole school getting involved with this competition from home, and we hope that our planned house competitions can continue later in the year once it is safe to do so.”
