Brody the Bear wins big at Christ College!

 

Christ College provided an unusual opportunity for teams of entrepreneurs as part of the Functional Skills programme, utilising the combined subjects of Maths, English and IT.

 

The Year 9 teams had two days to create a unique product, together with its production company, and deal with every aspect of the business from the running costs to the design of the actual invention.

 

The students were guided through the two day event by the schools Functional Skills Team, Mr Craig Burns, Mr Colin Revell and Mrs Fee Goodwin.

 

The event culminated in the teams having to do a ‘Dragons Den’ style presentation of their product to a specialist panel.
 The products on show included an ingenious portable laptop workstation and an exciting amusement park water slide, but the judges gave first prize to Brody, an interactive electronic bear.

‘Our original idea was for an alien character that could launch tennis balls for sports training, but that evolved into Brody the Bear, who would be an electronic companion for 4 to 6 year olds” said designer Jordan Kent. The winning team received £15.00 gift vouchers.

 

Headteacher Teresa Gilpin said: “Christ College is taking part in the national pilot for Functional Skills. From 2010, no pupil will be able to achieve grade C or above in English, Maths and IT unless they have Functional Skills at level 2. We value the opportunity to prepare our youngsters for qualifications that all pupils will have to have in the future.”