The Search for Blue Minds Competition

Paddington Academy students entered a national competition targeting Design & Technology students in Key Stage 2 &3.  The competition supports delivery of the Design and Technology elements of the curriculum and for KS2 focussed on developing, planning and communicating ideas and for KS3 design and construction, cultural understanding, creativity, and critical evaluation.  

Students were given the task of designing a car of the future, which would be fun to drive and environmentally friendly, within a four week timescale. All school entries had to be submitted by midnight on Friday 14^th October 2011. All entries were then showcased at the Science Museum over the October half - term.  

Paddington Academy submitted two teams named Green Machines and Green Team on Friday 14^th October. The following week Mr Evans was contacted by e-mail to learn that the Green Team had been short listed from over 300 entries. By the end of the week the team were told they were one of three finalists and had been invited to attend the awards ceremony at the Science Museum on Sunday 30^th October. 

The awards ceremony took place at The Science Museum and it was hosted by Quentin Wilson. It was a very tense affair . Both teams listened while two special recognition awards were announced for KS2, joint third place for KS3 and once the second place was announced for one of the other finalists there was a silent cheer from the Green Team as they knew they had won first prize. The team, captain Salim Amieur, Designer Andrew Atireklarp, manufacturer Hamied Farhim and spokesperson Albion Babiqi, who were all accompanied by proud members of their families stepped up to receive the first prize.  

The judges were quoted as saying: “This is an incredible piece of design engineering and the students have shown the potential to become top quality car designers.”