At the end of March, Year 8 students at Tiverton High School took part in the annual Games Room event. At the beginning of March students were briefed with designing a new game and an advertising campaign for the game to pitch to a panel of judges in a final competition. THS worked closely with a number of local business experts who supported the school by leading a range of workshops for the students on marketing, advertising, communication skills and effective presentation skills. These experts then worked with students to prepare them for the semi-final presentations, before forming the judging panel for the finals.
KS3 English lead, Natalie Westacott, said: “The Games Room project provides students with an excellent opportunity to develop skills in teamwork, time management and learner independence, as well as experience of working with business partners in a real-life working context. Each student was also awarded two flight-path to GCSE speaking and listening grades: one based on their ability to work effectively as part of a group and the other on their ability to communicate and adapt language as part of their team presentation. Students always feel nervous before the main event, and on the final day itself there is certainly a heightened focus and tension, but the sense of pride and achievement felt by each student afterwards cannot be underestimated. We know that experiences like this stay in students’ memories and help to boost their confidence for speaking and listening presentations at GCSE as well as for future college and job interviews.”
On Tuesday 28th March, Z population competed in a tough competition, with students Abbie Randell, Jezimae Partridge, Jessica Connolly and Briony Hill winning with their game Rocket Fix. Judges commented on their “excellent graphics”, “range of challenges which were described well” and the equally shared “clear presentation across the team”.
On Thursday 30th March, the Y population final was even more tight, with more deliberation between the judges. The overall winners were Poppy Dooley, Tiana Doble, Maddie Lee and Alice Rouse, with their game You’re Next. Judges praised their “clear game concept”, “strong presentation”, “great graphics” and “confident question-handling”. A special judges’ commendation went to Leo Chamberlain after his game partner was absent on the day and Leo gave an impressive solo presentation for their exciting game Ruins War. All students competing on both days should be very proud of themselves.
The students certainly seem to agree: one student commented, “Personally, I believe The Games Room was the best topic we have done yet. I liked the creativity and teamwork necessary to complete the work.” Another said, “I found the Games Room a good opportunity to work with professionals and to work in groups…it helped me with talking in front of crowds.”
Local games shop owners Sophia and Ruben Beard from Bridge Troll, supported THS with insightful videos on the design and playability of a range of board and card games, and expert tips for students throughout the project. Sophia joined THS for both days leading a workshop and being an expert judge. We also welcomed Peter Bailey, from Unity Software, world leading hosts of game servers; Tanya Frost and Mia Pilton, from the marketing and customer relations team at Hepco; Michelle Halsey, from Titan Travel; Georgios Karvasilis from Adopstar and local author and script-editor, Lucy Hay from Bang2Write. Students and staff at THS are very grateful for their expertise and support with their project.
