The Challenge: Operation Moonbase
It was not the usual start of the day at Isle of Ely – children had to gather in the hall for a special assembly to find out why a rocket had crashed right in the middle of it!
Special astronaut Amy had a mission for this school. Over the course of the day, students used their Working in a Team skills to establish a new society on a distant moon called Utopia. A series of challenges required teams to use their Enterprise Skills, particularly practising their Problem Solving, Using Imagination and Listening Carefully to their team mates. Children needed to select a crew together to support them on their mission, then design a new species of animal to benefit their brand new society before finally creating a 3-D model of their own dream city.
It was impressive to see the giant rockets Reception were building, alongside other imaginative spaceships. Team mates helped each other to design and make a wide range of alien creatures and unique planets never seen in the whole galaxy. Year 1 occupied an entire corridor, which was thriving with exciting plans for Utopia as the whole year group took teamwork – and competition! – to a new level by having teams from both classes working together in the same shared space.
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Meanwhile, children in Years 2 and 3 could boast that the scoreboards in their classrooms were full of points for the skills they brilliantly displayed throughout the day. Whilst some teams were presenting the fruits of their hard work in a ‘show and tell’ session in front of their peers, the challenge culminated for some in a series of persuasive pitches at the Intergalactic Trade Fair, which gave each team the opportunity to show off their fantastic ideas. Congratulations to the would-be astronauts!