It seemed like a good idea at the time. Even when I realised what I’d taken on, even when I took on board the challenge, it still seemed like a good idea. Some ideas are like that. They provoke you into measuring up to the challenge, so they still seem like a good idea, 3 or 4 years later.
I’ve always prided myself on my knowledge of wildlife. So, taking on the schools’ wildlife quiz seemed right up my street. It doesn’t involve any physical activity. Just as well when my 76-year-old body constantly reminds me that I’m not up to the sort of things I got up to when I was 26. Setting off, unarmed and unguided into the African bush is fine at that age. Today, I struggle to get to the bottom of the garden and back!
The second thing about the opportunity is that I love children. The children are almost invariably better informed about the natural world than either their teachers or their parents!
What I hadn’t realised when I took on the quiz was the sheer number of questions I needed to come up with.
For the purpose of the quiz, we divide the county into 8 or 9 areas. Why that number? It’s the number of volunteers available to support the quiz. This year we have a record number of entries: 76. The quiz consists of 2 preliminary rounds and Area Finals; followed by 3 semifinals and a grand final. It’s not always possible, but we try to arrange things so that there are 3 schools pitted against one another at each stage. As well as questions designed to test the children’s knowledge, there is also a picture identification round and a specimen I.D. round as well. Excluding the picture and specimen rounds, this means that I have to come up with at least 300 questions each year…and, although I can, to some extent, rotate some of the questions, I have to avoid the quiz becoming repetitive if only because teachers can be quite crafty, and they do attempt to brief their teams as to what to expect!
One of the biggest challenges is making sure the questions are fair. In fact, it’s hardest to be fair in the early rounds. Let me tell you why. When schools reach the later rounds, the standard is consistently high. Some of these kids are amazing. You can pick out the future David Attenborough’s. It’s the early rounds that really challenge me.
Whatever stage the children reach, we want it to be an encouraging experience for all of them. The problem is that, in the early stages, there’s going to be a mixture of abilities. Some schools are going to go all the way because their children are fantastic. Some are going to be knocked out in the first round, especially if they come up against a future finalist; and you don’t want them to “get hammered.” So, you’ve got to include a mixture of questions that are “easy-peasy” so no-one loses badly, and questions that give the best ones a chanced to shine.
One of the great things about running a quiz like this is how much you learn in the process.
The first is the tremendous support I get from my team of volunteers. Most of them have been involved in the quiz far longer than I have. Not only are they extremely knowledgeable themselves but they have also built excellent relationships with their local schools, something that’s taken me a while to achieve.
When I first took on the role of quizmaster, I was taken on by Donna Cavill to whom I also reported. Because she was being moved to a different post, it was something of a relief to her to pass the running of the competition over to me. Since then, Claire Garrity and Jennie Denton have been appointed in charge of the Trust’s education drive, and the schools’ quiz has become part of that. It is therefore appropriate that they now organise the competition leaving me in charge of setting the questions. But teamwork is always the order of the day however the team is organised, and you have to be adaptable.
It’s also fascinating how schools approach the competition. Some can be very competitive. They pick their very best children; in which case they’re nearly always represented by children in years 5 or 6 (10 or 11 year olds) and they select a different team every year. Other schools will pick children who are exceptionally keen on nature. Their teams may include quite young ones who represent them year after year and become seasoned competitors before they move on.
Let me end with what teachers have told me when I ask them what they think the children get out of the quiz. Obviously an appreciation of nature which develops into a care for preserving the natural world. But less obviously, the sort of children who are good at nature are often the ones who don’t shine at sport. It gives them the chance to excel at something the football and netball stars are not so good at.
As I said, it seemed like a good idea at the time. It still does.
