Schoolchildren from across Darlington have been tasked with a top secret educational mission to ‘make a positive difference’.
Darlington Credit Union has collaborated with a number of the town’s primary schools to launch a creative art competition, with the winning school earning an interactive and practical science party.
The schoolchildren have been asked to design a robot that helps make a difference to anything, including people or the environment, for example.
Each school involved in the competition was hand-delivered a ‘confidential’ dossier containing a coded mission for pupils to solve, which outlined the challenge.
The initiative has been launched in conjunction with ‘The Festival of Ingenuity’, which takes place in Darlington on the weekend of 8th-9th July. It is a celebration of everything that is ingenious in the town to promote the practical uses of engineering in everyday life, with a number of STEM-based activities taking place throughout the weekend, for people of all ages.
The winner of the competition will be decided by a public vote, with all entries on display in the Dolphin Centre over the course of the two days.
Tony Brockley, chief executive of Darlington Credit Union, said: “STEM subjects are becoming increasingly popular and significant in today’s age, so the competition is a great way to get schoolchildren involved in a fun, yet educational, initiative with an emphasis on science and creative thinking.
“In July, Darlington will be enjoying a celebration of everything that is ingenious about the town and Darlington Credit Union wanted to play its part in getting people involved. By using our connections with the primary schools involved in our Young Savers’ Scheme, we came up with the idea of hosting a competition and based it on the theme of the weekend.”
Mr Brockley added: “As the public will decide the outcome of the competition, I would urge people to come down and support our town’s schools and their pupils, as well as this fantastic initiative. I am excited for the event and would like to wish everyone the very best of luck in the competition!”
www.darlingtoncreditunion.co.