Christmas is over (boo!) and 2018 is finally in sight. For many, a new year means a fresh new start, so why not introduce your class or school to one of our immensely popular Inter-School Tournaments in 2018?
What exactly is an Inter-School Tournament?
An Imagination Gaming Inter-School Tournament is an exciting combination of learning, fun, positive competition and supported interaction. They are a fantastic way to mix pupils across classes and schools, and our tournaments can introduce games to both new and experienced players alike.They are also a superb value introduction to the world of Imagination Gaming’s approach to learning, with an opportunity for the visiting children and staff taking part to take their new skills back and show their friends and colleagues how much fun it is too!
What does an Inter-School Tournament Include?
Our Tournaments include a morning session of meeting the teams involved in the day and the opportunity to learn and practice the games together before playing competitively! The afternoon then comprises of a round-robin style competition, where each team is able to have a go at each of the games involved to try and beat their opponents. There is also a presentation including certificates for ALL competitors and trophies for the winners of the day. There is also an opportunity for optional prizes and games packs.
Not only all that, but it’s amazing value for money too. If your school hosts the event it costs you nothing and your team can enter for free! Visiting teams pay a small fraction of the cost of the day each, making it amazing value for everyone involved. Our tournaments are essentially a full day of activities for your students for the cost of an afterschool club!
How does an Inter-School Tournament Work?
Tournaments are designed to fit a typical school day, and the schedule, including start, finish and break times, are flexible and will be set to suit the host school taking account of visiting teams needs too. A typical tournament works best with a team of 4 or 5 children from each school, with a TA/ Teacher, and for around 6 to 10 teams. Of course as always, if this doesn’t quite suit your needs we can work out exactly what will. The day is suitable for both primary and secondary school children, with y4 / y5 being the preferred minimum age for this type of day. Ages can vary at the same competition, but we would recommend that never more than a year groups difference or not at all… to try and keep it fair! (That said, we all enjoy watching the young ones giving the older ones a run for their money!)
Space is crucial! More than likely we will need to use the school hall for the day, but this need not affect the host school’s lunch routine. Classrooms can be an option but it’s far better if we are all together. Effectively you will need tables and chairs that can fit up to 6 players around, one for each team taking part.
There’s a short welcome and introduction as everyone arrives and meets for the first time, but we get into playing the games and having fun as soon as possible.
We spend the morning mixing and learning lots of different games together. This is crucial not only to learn the games but also a chance to get to know everyone and for the staff to mix too… making the competition in the afternoon much less daunting! Depending on the day, either towards the end of the morning or in afternoon the competition starts! We have a round robin tournament where the team members split onto different tables and play to earn points in a series of games, both for themselves and for their team. Staff help to monitor the games and award points for each game.
We collect all the points from each player in each game, feed them into a super computer, and find out the overall winners! There are certificates for everyone involved, as well as the schools themselves, and trophies for the winning team’s school and the individual high score, all provided as part of the day.
Related prizes or games packs are also available to support what was learned during the day and are a fantastic option to provide participating schools with so they can show what they have learned, giving each school some basic knowledge, resources and insight that they can immediately put to use in their own school day!
How will an Inter-School Tournament help my pupils?
Pupils gain confidence both as individuals, as part of a team and a larger community, with the opportunity to compete in an environment that nurtures cooperation between not only team-mates, but also between opponents. It clearly works too, as more and more of our schools look to hold regular tournaments throughout the year, with clusters alternating venues, but always hoping to take home the trophies for themselves!
How can I get involved?
If you’re interested in bringing a team or two along to one of our tournaments or think you have to facilities to host your own, then we’d love to hear from you! Send us an email at [email protected] or contact one of our partners direct.
Nigel Scarfe: [email protected]
