What’s involved?

• The competition is open to groups of Year 11 students only.

• Entries open 1st September each year. But you can plan ahead in Yr. 10 for an entry by identifying a potential team; inviting expressions of interest and encouraging the team to plan their submission video during summer holidays.

• More than one entry is permitted per school.

• More than one teacher can supervise an entry.

• Participating schools have also created strong entries from inter-departmental collaboration.

• Schools collaborating on an enhanced curriculum may enter teams jointly.

• Entry is by way of a short video submission and completing of an online application form.

• From entry, the maximum duration of the Challenge is 13 months for those that make it all the way to the final stage.

• Out-of-school events such as our prize-giving ceremony are scheduled to ensure minimum disruption to your school timetable. This is intended to reduce the need for teacher substitutes. It should also enable increased attendance by other classmates; teachers/Principals.

• Successful entrants will be invited to participate in our Exhibition at the start of Halloween (usually the last Friday in October). The teams and their exhibition displays are judged by an independent panel of industry experts.

  What happens if my team gets through to the final stage?

• After the exhibition, if your team is selected as one of our finalist teams, they win five eight-month-old Angus Cross calves. These will be delivered to their selected host farm. They will have to rear their calves until finishing one year later.

• The calves may be reared on a participant’s family/relative’s farm; a teacher’s farm; or on a farm arranged by ABP. NB The host farm must be NI Farm Quality Assured.

• Each finalist team will be assigned a themed project to work on over the course of the year. The theme will be relevant to current topics facing the agricultural and food industry. This work will be linked to the teams’ GCSE’s /learning outcomes of GCSE lesson plans. We will consult with the teacher on the final detail of each team’s assigned project to ensure it matches their studies and interests.

• A Mentor from CAFRE’s beef advisory team is assigned to each finalist team to support them and the supervising teacher on their projects.

• The projects should be the work of the pupils because they will be invited to discuss their work at a final interview without their teacher or mentor being present.

• ABP hosts an inter-school work inspiration trip for finalists in late June.

• Training sessions on professional communication and presentation skills are held in February for the finalists and an interview skills training day is held the week before their final interviews in mid October.

But don’t just take our word for it…