The judges: celebrating creativity in the School We’d Like competition

While the judges asked some tough questions, they were inspired by the innovation and team work students showed

As Helen Skelton walked into the winners’ day, a shiver of excitement ran through the room. Ex-Blue Peter presenter, Sport Relief star and sports presenter Skelton soon showed her journalist’s training in the questions she asked. “Who would manage the garden day to day?” she quizzed one school. “How will you get the rest of the money?” she probed another. When an entry really caught her imagination, she was outspoken in praise. “A really good business brain here,” she declared of City Academy Norwich. “Watch this space!”

The youngest of the judges, Skelton empathised with pupils. “At school, I asked too many questions,” she remembered. “But there’s nothing more humbling than hanging out with schoolchildren. They’ve got no limits. They’re incredibly inspiring.” With experience of special needs in her own family, she is emphatic that “amazing abilities are pulled out of people by challenges. That’s why these kids are so impressive.”

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