GE's Design My Break schools competition for 11-14 year olds, which will run in 2010 and 2011, will ask students to work in teams and think about how they could spend the second school break of the day -- typically lunchtime - differently, to improve their nutrition, physical activity and emotional well-being.
Getting pupils to think about how to create inspiring and interesting school break activities is the theme of a new schools competition being launched by Olympic and Paralympics Games sponsor GE, Official Worldwide Sponsor to the 2012 Olympic Games- in conjunction with the London 2012 'Get Set' programme.
The Design My Break schools competition for 11-14 year olds, which will run in 2010 and 2011, will ask students to work in teams and think about how they could spend the second school break of the day -- typically lunchtime - differently, to improve their nutrition, physical activity and emotional well-being.
The top prize will be a special day trip to the London 2012 Olympic Games with the winning schools in both 2011 and 2012 getting the chance to send five children and a teacher to a London 2012 Olympic Stadium event. For regional finalists there will be the opportunity to meet an athlete at their Regional Final event. Each regional winner will also receive £500 to put towards the cost of turning their 'break' idea into reality.
The competition website was launched on July 6th 2010 with schools being able to register and participate during the Autumn term from September to December 2010.
The Design My Break initiative is designed to help improve the lifestyle of young people and provide a positive legacy for the future. It builds on GE's existing involvement with the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) in supporting their Get Set education programme over the last three years. GE's initiative will also link up with 'SmallSteps4Life' programme, which contributes to Get Set and forms part of Change4Life's support for schools in England and Wales.
SmallSteps4Life aims to help motivate and support young people to take small, manageable steps to improve their health and wellbeing in areas such as eating well, getting active and feeling good.
Other Design My Break partners are the Youth Sports Trust, and School Food Trust.
Said Mark Elborne, President and CEO of GE in the UK:
"While the value of the mid day break is widely acknowledged -- for instance for physical activity or to help children develop their social skills - it is also seen by some as a typical danger point for bullying and bad behaviour. We hope our competition will give young people a chance to have their say about how the ideal mid-day break could be structured differently and help them to acquire valuable team and leadership skills.
"This competition will also provide a good opportunity for GE staff engaged in our volunteering programme to work directly with local schools and put something back into the community."
Secondary schools interested in the competition should register their details on the Design My Break website (www.designmybreak.co.uk) where they will be able to access full instructions and complete an online application form.
Entries should be made as a team led by five young people and supported by any number of young people from that age group.
Said Ruth Bedingham responsible for Corporate Citizenship at GE: "The Design My Break website has been designed to be really comprehensive and give schools everything that they will need to take part in the competition. The 80 teams (eight in each DoE region) who are selected to progress to the Regional Finals will be allocated a GE Champion -- one of our employee volunteers - who can help with the project plan and final presentation to the judges."
Successful entries will need to meet a range of judging criteria, full details of which are contained on the Design My Break website. In particular all entries must include food, activity and emotional wellbeing as part of the solution and must reflect the Olympic and Paralympic values, in particular those of inspiration, friendship and leadership. Teams must produce a project plan for their solution, show an understanding of cost and where funding could be obtained and be able to visualise and communicate their ideas successfully to others.
Lord Coe welcomed the initiative, saying "This competition is a great fit with the Healthy and Active Lifestyles strand of our education programme and the SmallSteps4Life initiative. Mid day breaks are a real challenge for schools. What better way to tackle the problem than to engage young people to find a solution in a way that allows them to improve the health and well being of young people whilst also gathering valuable life and business skills for the future."
Mark Maguire
GE
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+44 20 7302 6068
+44 7717 517071
Sara Cruz
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0207-534-0623