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Summerhill School

Summerhill School

Taken to Task at Taskmaster

Daniel Martin, with the latest on the House Championship.

Last Friday afternoon, the main hall was presented with an active and enjoyable house competition based around the TV series “Taskmaster”. The show follows various different comedians as they compete against each other to finish tasks, set by taskmaster Greg Davies, in the most creative way possible. Two members of house staff competed against each other on Friday, to complete tasks set by our very own taskmaster Mrs Stevens.  Notably, Mrs Fradley and Mr Guest stepped it up for Ursa House and came to the event not only in house colours, but in personalised house t-shirts. The judges for the competition were Mrs Sprouting, Mrs Oldbury and Mrs Stevens.

Once the show was underway, the house staff were presented with their first task. This opening task would mean that both members of house staff would take part, along with the audience, to collect as many items in house colour as possible and place them in a plastic pint glass, within three minutes. As soon as the time began, house staff and audience members jumped into action. A collection of ties began to accumulate. Mr Wollerton stood at the side of the stage lining up ties that Mr Guest and Mrs Fradley would later cram into their pint glass.  The winner of the first task was Pegasus.

The beginning task won, task two commenced. The task would result in one member of house staff attempting to place a sun hat on their head, from off the floor without using their hands. The competitors then had to run to the judging table to get the point. They were given two minutes to do so. Mr Morgan, Mr Bartlett, Mr Guest, Mr Bull all stepped up to compete for their house. After the two minutes, all house staff were able to get the hat on their heads. Mr Morgan used another member of Pegasus to put the hat on his head, which was classed as cheating, but was allowed another attempted and managed to do it in time! Mr Bartlett was the last to reach the judging table and showed determination within the task. All houses got a point.

The third task consisted of placing an After Eight mint on competitor’s foreheads and they had to get it in their mouth without the use of their hands.  Mr Bull, Mr Morgan, Mr Guest, Mrs Robinson and Mrs Fradley managed to eat their mints, but Mrs Fisher and Mr Bartlett struggled, dropping the mints once or twice. Mrs Fisher managed to complete the task before the two minutes are up, but Mr Bartlett unluckily completed the task seconds after the two minutes were over. 

The fourth task required the competitors to eat their house logo into a slice of white bread.  After the competitor’s three minutes were up, Mrs Sprouting took a while to decide which house had won. During the judging, Mrs Stevens commented on Ursa’s bread, saying it, “Looks like a white cow pat.”  The best logo was a draw between Orion and Pegasus, so both houses got the point.

The final task was conducted by four members of purple house: Mr Cresswell, Mrs Stone, Mrs Moore and Mrs Sprouting. The pre-recorded task required contenders to suck up Malteses from one plate and move them to another in a minute!  The other competitors in the room were to guess who won. After the minute, Mrs Sprouting was found to be the winner, having moved 13 Maltesers across, but none of the competitors guessed, so no house got the points.

The overall winner, after five tasks, was Pegasus, with 5 points. Joint second saw Ursa and Orion, leaving Draco in last place.  All in all a very entertaining spectacle for our students to enjoy!