'ThinkBIG' challenge sees Cornish pupils win £500 for their school

Two Cornish schools have won £500 following ThinkBIG – a 'Dragons Den' style contest for primary school children held by The Cornwall Association of Primary Heads (CAPH), in partnership with the Education team at law firm, Michelmores.

Winners Kehelland Village School in Camborne and Lanner Primary School in Redruth impressed the judging panel with their innovative ideas on how they would spend £500 to improve one aspect of school life.

The prize money will allow Kehelland Village School to purchase science equipment that tends to only be available to secondary school students including microscopes, an air compressor and Bunsen burners – enabling the children to perform experiments in class and continue to develop their enthusiasm for the subject.

While pupils at Lanner Primary School will benefit from the £500 by purchasing wet weather clothing. Previously, when it rained the KS2 pupils were only able to play on a small concrete area at break times but this prize money will allow them to join the younger children in the school and have fun playing on the grass playground whatever the weather!

The challenge saw six shortlisted schools Tregadillett Primary School, Tregolls School, Kehelland Village School, Coads Green Primary School, Goonhavern Primary School and Lanner Primary School pitch their ideas to a panel of judges at Pool Innovation Centre.

The panel included Mel Colton-Dyer, Head of Business Connections and Skills at Cornwall Chamber of Commerce and Richard Scutt, Manager at Pool Innovation Centre and from Michelmores Rosie Phillips, a Trainee Legal Executive and Ian McWalter, a Bids Manager.

Melanie Haddy head teacher at Lanner Primary School said:

"The ThinkBIG challenge was a real hit, the children thoroughly enjoyed developing a variety of different ideas, creating the posters and planning their entertaining pitch. They've gained a huge amount by taking part in this exercise, it helped to encourage our student's creative thinking, improve on their presentation skills and ability to work as a team."

Rosie Phillips, Trainee Legal Executive at Michelmores said:

"Congratulations to Kehelland Village School and Lanner School on winning ThinkBIG – the pitches from all six shortlisted schools were really impressive.

"We are delighted with the response that the ThinkBIG challenge received this year and hope to continue to encourage entrepreneurship in primary school children through events such as this in the future."