- Schools' Challenge
Schools' Challenge is the national
general knowledge competition for schools in theUnited Kingdom . It uses the same basic rules asUniversity Challenge , although it is affiliated with neither the game nor the television show.Schools Challenge has been running since 1979, and is divided into two sections. The Senior Schools Challenge is for students up to 18+: there is no lower age restriction, but in practice the teams tend to draw on years 9 to 13. Each team comprises four members, two of whom must be no older than the normal age for a Year 10 student (in 2007/8, born on or after 1st September 1992, or 1st August 1992 in Northern Ireland). The other two can be of any age. Junior Schools Challenge is for students up to and including the normal age for a Year 8 student, or preparatory school pupils: in 2007/8, born on or after 1st September 1994, or 1st August 1994 in Northern Ireland. Again, there are four members in each team but there are no restrictions on the numbers of any students from a particular age group in this competition, unlike its Senior counterpart.
The competition is divided this way because of the incongruence between the
public school system and grammar or comprehensive schools. In some public school systems students attend a preparatory school until the age of 13, after which time they transfer to a public school. Schools Challenge has had to work around this so that no school has an unfair advantage in terms of age.The competition is divided up into regions, much like Secondary School public speaking or debating competitions. Each region has a coordinator, the 'Regional Organiser, who in turn answers to the national organizers.
The eight winners of regional competitions take part in the national finals to contest the Schools' Challenge Trophy. Teams who lose in the first round of this contest enter the
repechage contest for the Schools' Challenge Plate (and 5th overall place). Finals are usually contested in a single day at a central venue.The national winners in 2007 were:
* Senior:Westminster School .
* Junior:Lancaster Royal Grammar School , LancasterOn 27th April 2008, Westminster won the senior competition for the fourth time in a row.The winners of Junior Schools' Challenge were Lancaster Royal Grammar School, who beat
Queen Mary's Grammar School in the final.Carre's Grammar School in third, thePerse School in fourth andMilbourne Lodge in fifth.Rules
The game is played to more or less the same rules as
University Challenge . Starter questions are asked to all contestants and the first to buzz must answer immediately (or the full question is passed to the other team). The team that correctly answers a buzzer question is then asked three 'bonus' questions which they may confer on and which may be passed to the other team. The main differences between Schools' Challenge and University Challenge are:*No points are deducted for incorrectly interrupting a starter question on the buzzer.
*Bonus questions are worth 10 points each and are passed across to the other team if answered incorrectly.
*A team answering the starter and all three subsequent bonuses correctly gains an extra bonus of 10 points: thus 50 points are available per round.
*There are no picture or music rounds.Equipment
8-player lockout buzzers, common in quizzes of this type are used and are supplied by tournament organisers if a hosting school cannot supply the equipment. While tournament rules do not specify a manufacturer, the Jaser Quizmaser system is the
de facto standard in many regions.Organisers
The national competition is organised by Paul and Sue Sims, assisted by regional co-ordinators. Further information is on the Schools' Challenge section of [http://www.123quiz.net/w/SC 123quiz]
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