Schools Consumer Challenge Quiz

This morning I attended Oxfordshire County Council's Trading Standards Consumer Challenge Quiz which they hosted at Unipart House in Cowley for special needs students.  Eight schools took part including our local Fitzwaryn School in Wantage.

I was very impressed by how well all the students did, despite some very challenging questions regarding the law, healthy eating, personal safety, smart shopping and issues around drugs use/misuse. Woodeaton Manor School won the competition and will go on to represent Oxfordshire in the National Finals in Brighton in June.  I was delighted that our local Fitzwaryn School came joint second with The Isis Academy, so an excellent result for them. 

The photo above shows a colourful arch of balloons to represent a rainbow to make it fun for everyone receiving their prizes.  I had objected to the original idea that the balloons were going to be filled with helium as this is a rare gas that we must preserve for scientific, medical and industrial use (see here for background).  Officers took up my suggestion to use air-filled balloons instead, which they did, although it entailed more work having to attach them to garden canes and wires.  The efffect is the same though - very impressive!