UK Schools Challenge Brochure 2015

In association with

IntroductionWhat is the

International UK Schools Challenge?

UK Schools Challenge is a new innovative and educationally enhancing week long competition. UK Schools Challenge gives specially selected schools the opportunity to compete against other international schools for an annual award. The competition comprises of daily challenges specifically designed to develop students« personal and professional skills. The challenges have been created with great emphasis on intellectual stimulation and aim to provide a strong connection between curriculum study subjects and the professional working world.

We are inviting schools from all over the world to apply to send a team to the UK to compete in the UK Schools Challenge between 12th-18th of April 2015 at our impressive Chester University campus.

Each selected school will submit a team of minimum 10 and maximum 20 students aged between 14 and 17 years old. Alongside the onsite challenges, we will be asking schools to complete some preparation material before they arrive. This pre-arrival material will provide core elements of certain challenges throughout and will be integral to the overall competition.

Once the schools arrive they will compete in various challenges against other international schools in order to accumulate points and with the ultimate aim of being crowned International UK Schools Challenge Champion.

Our aim throughout this competition, similar to the fundamental ideas behind the International Baccalaureate programmes, is to help develop "citizens of the world in relation to culture, language and learning to live together".

BenefitsWhy should your school and students compete in the International UK Schools Challenge?

Schools

Raise the profile of the English in your school by creating an excitement around English learning and the upcoming competition. Gives the school a chance to win an international academic award and to bring together and inspire the entire school to rally behind the chosen students and create a sense of community as the students prepare for the competition. Teachers from the school will be invited to attend a preparation weekend in December 2014 to give further information and help develop the teachers English. This competition gives your school the opportunity to create lasting international partnerships with other competing schools.

Students

Representing their country, town and school, and showcasing the high level of English in their school. Students will be reinforcing a sense of their own identity and culture and being exposed to the identity and cultures of their counterparts worldwide. Living and competing together for the week allows the students the chance to experience at close quarters these other cultures and to learn the values of respect and tolerance. The various challenges will stimulate the students« curiosity and engender a sense of discovery as they try to work together and succeed in their endeavours as a team. Our workshops will build on their education and help them hone the skills required to learn and acquire knowledge, either on their own or working as a team, and then to apply these skills and knowledge to the various elements of the competition. We have been extremely careful to ensure that each challenge has the key purpose of developing the students personal skills such as; communication, intercultural understanding and leadership.

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Mor

ning

09:0

0-12

:30

Aft

erno

on14

:00-

17:3

0

Dinner

Lunch

Breakfast

Transfer to Chester,

Arrive and settle in & Orientation

Transfer to Chester,

Arrive and settle in & Orientation

Transfer to Chester,

Arrive and settle in & Orientation

ShakespeareIn the Park

Performance- Showcasing

Talented Performers

Media ProjectChallenge- Exploring Local News

Media ProjectChallenge- Exploring Local News

Marketing Project Challenge

- DisplayingOutstanding

Progress

Marketing Project Challenge

- DisplayingOutstanding

Progress

Communication& Leadership

Workshop- Developing

Key Skills

Full Day Excursion

to Liverpool Including

Beatles’ Museum

Full Day Excursion

to Liverpool Including

Beatles’ Museum

Discussion& Debate Workshop- Building

Communication & Confidence

Campus Mystery

Challenges

Even

ing

20:0

0-22

:30

FinalPresentation,Awards Night

& Prom- Dress toImpress

International Welcome Party

- Representyour ownCountry

Trashion Show- Innovation & Creativity

Evening Recitaland

Karaoke Night

UK Schools Challenge 2015Leaders of the Future

Depart for Airport

Depart for Airport

Depart for Airport

Opening Ceremony

& Presentation- Our School,

Our City

Lunch

Dinner

HistoryGeography Business Studies

Music Physical Education

IT Studies

PerformingArts

Modern TechnologyEvents Management

Project management

Decisionmaking

Creativity

Timemanagement

Communityawareness

Teamwork

Leadership Negotiation Vocalcommunication

Delegation Organisationalskills

Marketing

Key Skills Developed:

Subjects:

ProgrammeWhat does the programme involve?

International Welcome Party

A traditional welcome party with a difference, students are asked to dress to represent their country in this fun first evening. Students will have the chance to mix with other schools and integrate with other nationalities.

Discussion & Debate Workshop

This workshop is a chance for students to demonstrate their communication and leadership skills by debating a current world topic amongst other schools. The topic will be given to each school prior to arrival and schools are expected to have a case both for and against the topic.

Campus Mystery Challenges

The campus mystery challenges is exactly what it suggests, a series of small challenges located around the campus which will include a mixture of physical, mental and skill based events which will all be judged.

Opening Ceremony & Presentation

The opening ceremony will be an introduction to the event with a detailed explanation of the week and its contents. It will include a reiteration of the standards expected for the week and a clarification of the rules and scoring systems throughout the event.

During the ceremony, each school will use the key skill of communication to showcase a pre-prepared presentation about their school and city. They will use their own creativity with whichever materials they deem suitable and using any presentation method they choose (Microsoft Powerpoint, video etc.) Each presentation should be between 8-12 minutes long.

Communication & Leadership Workshop

The communication & leadership workshop will consist of a lecture on effective and beneficial ways in which to use vocal and non-vocal com-munication to enhance a person«s interpersonal skills through the En-glish language. This lecture will detail ways to use certain skills in order to benefit students in a professional manner which they may need in their future careers, and also to give students an insight into some of the skills they will need to possess in the following week«s events including leadership.

Evening Recital & Karaoke Night

During the visit to Liverpool and the Beatles Museum on Wednesday students will be asked to think about a Beatles song that they will recreate and perform. The recital should be original, creative and professionally performed. This evening will then convert to a more traditional non-competitive karaoke evening.

Marketing Project Challenge

This challenge will showcase the students organisational and marketing skills, students will be tasked with producing a promotional presentation on their stay in Chester. Including interviews, photos and videos of their week. Students will present their work at the final presentation & awards night that evening.

Trashion Show

Trashion show is a catwalk fashion show with a difference. Each team is presented with a box full of useful "trash" in which they will have to put the creative minds in action to create a his and hers outfit based on a specific theme and then parade their creations at the end of the evening in the catwalk finale.

Shakespeare in the Park Performance

Shakespeare in the park is a chance for schools to show their creative performing arts skills by adapting an historic Shakespeare play and giving it a modern twist. Schools are asked to amend a scene from a Shakespeare play and perform a 15 minute adaptation.

Media Project Challenge

The morning of this particular challenge students will be shown a short demonstration of a common news broadcast. Students will then be tasked with sourcing, creating and presenting their own news broadcast using news from the local area. Students will be tasked with finding interesting news items, reporting on them and creating an attractive broadcast from start to finish.

Excursions

During the schools time in Chester the students will get the chance to explore the historic Roman city of Chester. With its roman walls, amphitheatre and cathedral, Chester is nothing short of beautiful. Additionally students will visit the nearby city of Liverpool. Students will have access to one of Liverpool«s most famous attractions, the Beatles« Museum. Students will submerge themselves in a history of the music from one of Britain«s greatest ever bands.

Final Presentation, Awards Night & Prom

The final evening will be a celebration of the week the students have spent in Chester. Each school will present their final challenge, the marketing project, in front of the panel of judges. Following the presentations the judges will calculate and present the final scores of each challenge and an accumulative point tally from the week’s challenges thus crowning the winning school, the International UK Schools Challenge Champion. The evening will then continue into a traditional school prom, allowing the students to dress to impress and enjoy the final night with the fellow competitors.

Pre-arrival

Before arriving with us in Chester competing schools will be asked to plan and create certain materials in order to complete particular challenges. All the pre-arrival preparation will be explained and provided to the schools 3 months before arrival. This in depth explanation will include what is expected for the particular challenges, materials allowed and judging criteria.

How is the UK Schools Challenge Judged?

Judges

Each challenge during the week long competition will be performed in front of a panel of judges.

After each event the judges will discuss the performance based on criteria which will have been fully explained prior to the challenge. Schools will then be positioned in order of what the judges deem the best and given points accordingly.

All of the points for each challenge will be presented at the final presentation & awards night.

Rules

Each challenge will have specific rules to govern it, but here are some of the overall competition rules:

All of the pre-arrival material must be completed in order to compete All schools must compete in all of the challenges Appropriate uniform must be worn whilst competing (school uniform or smart attire) Every member of the group must actively compete in at least one challenge during the week During the week the schools are competing there must be no teacher influence or participation.

Schools must compete with respect and integrity towards other

schools, judges, staff

and their surroundings

Failure to arrive on time or compete in an event will result in

disqualification

ChesterThis event will take place at the University of Chester, boasting newly refurbished single en-suite bedrooms and modern classrooms within the city centre. When it comes to beautiful cities, Chester is one of Britain«s few heritage cities and should be on every tourist«s «must see« tinerary. The city comfortably ranks for charm alongside the cities of London, York, Bath and Edinburgh.

Founded by the Romans over 2000 years ago, much of the Roman influence remains and Chester«s city walls are the most complete in Britain. In every corner of the city you are confronted with history, from the Roman amphitheatre, to the medieval half-timbered buildings alongside a 900 year old Cathedral.

The university was founded as Chester Diocesan Training College in 1839 by a distinguished group of local leading figures in the Church of England, including future Prime Ministers William Ewart Gladstone and the 14th Earl of Derby. It was the UK«s first purpose-built teacher training college, which makes it one of the longest established higher education institutions in the country.

Chester is less than 1 hour away from the world famous city of Liverpool, where the students will enjoy a full day«s excursion and a visit to the Beatles Museum.

Where is the International UK Schools Challenge taking place?

Are we eligible to compete?

In order to compete, schools must meet the following requirements:

Students must be between the ages of 14-17 years old The group must be between 10-20 of the schools most talented students with an appropriate level of English to compete effectively The school must come with a group leader with a good level of English

Ideally group leaders should be able to attend the preparation weekend on the 6th & 7th December

The schools must be able to travel and start the competition on the dates specified

Schools are selected on the basis of their submitted application form

Interested schools must complete an application form and return to jamie@uklc.org or call on 01244 577 995 no later than 28th November 2014 successful schools

will be contacted 1 week after the close of applications.

The safety and wellbeing of our students are of extreme importance to us and this is reflected in our very careful staff recruitment policy. As well our highly qualified staff, on site there will be a Safeguarding & Welfare Officer, whose primary role is to ensure that all of the students have an enjoyable but safe time whilst they are with us.

Our onsite management team will also arrange regular meeting with group leaders in order to discuss any concerns or problems you may have and ensure that the matters arising are dealt with immediately. Onsite we have a number of qualified first-aiders who can deal with the very rare occasion that there might be an emergency as well as local doctors if the matter becomes more serious.

How will you ensure our students are safe?

Welfare

We understand that taking a group to a foreign country can be a massive stress and commitment for one group leader to deal with. Although we do expect group leaders to be in sole control of their group, we will ensure that during your stay our staff are on hand 24 hours a day to liaise and assist in dealing with the safeguarding and welfare of students in our care.

UKLCUnit 1d, Rossett Business VillageRossett LL12 0AY United Kingdom

Fax: 0044 1244 579 136Telephone: 0044 1244 577 995

Email: info@uklanguagecourses.comFor more information contact:

Jamie@UKLC.org

in association with UKLC