How we got to go to New Zealand and what we did when we got there!

Part One: the beginning

We wouldn't be going if it weren't for the Kids' Lit Quiz!

The Kids' Lit Quiz is an international quiz for students aged between 10 - 13 and was the brainchild of Wayne Mills, a lecturer in Education at Auckland University, who decided to set up a competition to encourage kids who like to read. He noticed that at his children's school prize days there were plenty of awards for sporting achievements but nothing for those who love books. Thus the Kids' Lit Quiz was born and it proved very popular; over the years it has spread throughout New Zealand and to South Africa, China, the UK, Canada and, this year, to the USA.

It has been equated to 'a pub quiz without the beer' and this describes it perfectly. The competitive atmosphere generated between teams of 4 pupils (maximum of 2 teams per school) who work in conjunction with each other, pooling their knowledge and drawing on each others' strengths, can be cut with a knife as the quiz progresses and tension builds. Prizes are generous and plentiful, ranging from books, cash and Book Tokens to meetings with well-known authors and invitations to visit other countries to compete against the best teams from around the world. Consequently, as students return from the heats full of enthusiasm and news spreads to other schools, more and more teams are taking part.

Cockermouth School has been competing since 2006; in 2009 we won our area heat and competed in the UK final. To find out what happened in 2010, read on...

To find out more about the quiz, go to the website http://www.kidslitquiz.com/

To my disappointment when I held the heats in school to find our new team for the 2010/11 Quiz there weren't many takers from Y8 - and even fewer from Y7 - but little did I know that it was a case of 'quality not quantity'! After thinking up as many awkward questions as I could, I put them to the pupils who wanted to try for the team. Although there were some horrifying gaps in some people's knowledge the results of four pupils stood out and made them the obvious choice for our 2010/11 team; they were Imogen (Y7), Daniel, Solomon and Alistair (Y8).

We had virtually no time to practice before the heat but two of the four had been in the previous year's team so we were able to share experiences and tips with the two newbies who were up to speed pretty quickly. All too soon it was time for their first test: the NW England heat at Bolton University!