Cracking idea by Devon school makes it best for innovation

A machine which keeps you awake even when you are bored or tired designed by pupils at a south Devon school has come out on top in prestigious competition to find the inventors of the future.

The 'Waker-Upper 3000' designed by Year Five pupils at East Allington Primary School has been chosen as the South West winner of the 2007 Cracking Ideas project. They will now battle it out with five other schools from around the country for the national title.

Cracking Ideas is fronted by Oscar® winning inventors Wallace & Gromit, and is the biggest government backed project of its type. The search is now on for the 2008 innovators.

During the summer term children and teachers around the UK were logging onto www.crackingideas.com and following lesson plans linked with the national curriculum and designed to encourage innovation.

The classroom activities included a competition where the nine and ten-year-old pupils used everyday objects to create an invention - a solution to an everyday problem they had encountered.

The pupils from East Allington came up with a model to make sure that people stay awake when trying to finish some boring job such as homework. The headgear includes features to keep your eyelids open, headphones to play loud music, a mallet to tap you on the head and even a jet of cold water. If you can sleep through that lot there really is no hope. Drinking straws, foil, garden twine and old bits of felt have all been used to create this innovation.

The Cracking Ideas project was developed by the UK Intellectual Property Office which encourages innovation and processes patent and trade mark applications. The success of the competition means it will be run again this year.

Amongst East Allington Primary School's prizes is a lap top computer. If they are successful in the national competition they will be presented with an original trophy by Aardman Animations, creator of Wallace & Gromit.

Stephanie Colegate, head teacher of East Allington Primary School, said the Year Five pupils had worked hard to come up with the winning entry.

"This was a fantastic initiative and a great way to bring learning to life and show children how important innovation is. We are really pleased to have won the regional competition and hope we have come up with the cracking idea that will win the national title," she said.

Intellectual Property and Quality Minister Lord Triesman, said the standard of entries was high.

"Cracking Ideas has successfully brought innovation into the classroom and has been a tremendous success."

"East Allington has shown how primary school children can be great innovators and we are looking forward to seeing more of this in the future," he said.

More information on Cracking Ideas can be found at www.crackingideas.com

Date of release: 12 October 2007