English Department

Kids' Lit Final 2009

The Northern Ireland Final of the Kids’ Lit Quiz was a bit of a washout for The Interpreting Worms, who were representing Lagan College.  The team of four were hoping to better the performance of our representatives from last year who finished 5^th overall.  This time around, however, the standard was exceptional with the team managing to finish 23^rd out of the 27 entrants.

Quizmaster was Wayne Mills, founder of the International Kids’ Lit Quiz in 2003.  Special guest was Josh Lacey, author of the ‘Bearkeeper’ series.

Wayne Mills - Founder of the Kids' Lit Quiz

John Lacey - Special Guest

The teams were asked 100 questions in ten categories from classic children’s literature to nonsense poetry to publishers’ logos.  After an exciting play-off, the winning team were from Wellington, who will now compete in the UK Final in a few weeks’ time.

The entire event was a fantastic experience for our pupils and for those who came to support their team.  Some supporters from other teams even came dressed as their favourite fictional characters!  There were prizes for the most imaginative costumes and school mascots.  There were also be spot prizes for spectators, and refreshments were served for everyone present.  The final scoreline may not have been in our favour, but a great day was had by all – and we look forward to hosting our Lagan heats again in 2010.

The ever-popular Kids’ Lit Quiz competition proved quite a hit this term so far, with teams from Year 8 and Year 9 signing up for the heats.  The battle has been tough so far and we look forward to the approaching semi-finals, not to mention the nail-biting, heart-thumping Final in a few weeks.  Organized by Mr Killen and Miss Poland during junior lunch in the library, the event has drawn quite an audience and we wish to thank Mr Killen and Miss Poland for giving up their time to host the event.  Special thanks go to Mrs Durkin, our college Librarian, for allowing the library to be under siege by the English Department and Mr Elliot, our Audio-Visual Technician, for arranging the sound system.  If you haven’t checked out the action yet, make sure you do!

Mrs M Beckett

This term saw the third annual Kids’ Literature Quiz at Lagan College.  For the last two years, pupils from Years 8 and 9 and fought it out to become the college representatives in the Northern Ireland Final, and this year was even better.  Over 30 teams, each made up of four students from either year group, put their names down for the challenge.  Heats involving 6 teams began in earnest in late September in the library over junior lunchtimes and raged on for four weeks.

Key to Success

After three weeks of elation and despair, we had narrowed the field down to the Final Five – The Crusaders and The Smarticles from Year 8 and The North American Porcupines, Plonkers Utd and The Interpreting Worms from Year 9.  Competition was fierce, with pupils having to overcome 4 sets of questions, including ‘Page to Screen’, picture and blockbuster rounds.  Having led from the start, The Interpreting Worms ran out eventual winners.

Congratulations to the winning team from 9MAX – who went one better this year after finishing as runners-up in 2008:

Dave Beattie, Stephen Hare, Caitlin Kearns, Ellen Hayes and Hannah Kennedy (sub)

The winners and runners-up each received gift vouchers, while there were biscuits and crisps for all who took part.  A big thank you to Miss Poland and Mr Killen from the English Department for organising and hosting the heats, and to Mrs Durkin for the use of the library and Mr Elliott for his technical support.  The winners will now go on to represent Lagan in the N. Ireland Final at Wellington College on Monday 9th November.  Good luck!

Congratulations!