 |
The purpose of the MindLab Olympics is not only to finish the year in an exciting way but also to provide our pupils with a chance to put the MindLab etiquette, teamwork and thinking skills into practice. |
This year the National UK MindLab Olympics will be held at Oxford Town Hall on May 12th from 1-4 p.m. The winning team will represent the UK, alongside gold medal teams from ten other countries, at the MindLab International Olympics which will be held on June 4-6th in Salamanca Spain.
This description of last years National and International MindLab Olympics provides a flavour of this exception event.
St. Pirans School in Maidenhead took on 12 teams from schools across the country to win the Gold Medal at the highly competitive national MindLab Olympics held on June 10th in the Henley-On-Thames Town Hall. The MindLab programme lessons were in evidence in the competitor’s game playing skill, strategies, self-confidence, concentration and impressive good gamesmanship. The delighted winning teams were awarded their medals by Debbie Flood, a silver medallist from the Athens Olympics.
The MindLab Olympic gold medallists (St. Pirans in Maidenhead) and silver winners (Robert Piggott Junior in Wargrave) then went on to the first MindLab International Olympics on Wednesday June 14th. Teams from Israel and Spain competed against our UK Champions in the atmospheric Town Hall assembly room to an international crowd gathered to watch the compelling finals. The children carried their country flags with them to play their rival teams like UN diplomats. Having battled against 40,000 children in their own country, the Israeli team won out. The Spanish team won silver and St. Piran's School in Maidenhead won bronze.
The International MindLab Olympics opened up a new dimension of learning opportunities and experiences. For example, during the master class run on the first day, it was a joy to watch the children work in mixed pairs from different countries to solve game puzzles, although they had no common language, they communicated in other ways and worked together effortlessly and efficiently.
A parent, Cathy Pritchard Gordan from Berkshire said “the last two days have been such an amazing experience for the children, particularly the International environment, he’s so excited about playing children from other countries. He couldn’t stop telling his Dad how cool it was to meet and play with a boy from Israel.” Another mum, Ruth Warms said, “ They are all winners because the confidence of knowing they were national champions will always stay with them”.
The International friendships that emerged were heart warming, one little boy from Maidenhead brought his Harry Potter book and gave it to his new Israeli friend who was deeply touched.
This is the first of many MindLab International Olympics. Spain will host of the next International Olympics Finals and MindLab programmes in Scotland, Ireland, Poland, Turkey, Hungary, the USA, Far East, Spain, Israel and a number of South American countries are planning to send their championship teams. We anticipate our fine MindLab teams from England will give them some real competition! |
 |
|
