Cracking idea by Maidstone school makes it best for innovation

A machine which does the washing up designed by pupils at a Maidstone school has come out on top in prestigious competition to find the inventors of the future.

The 'Washer Upper' designed by Year Five pupils at Senacre Wood Primary School has been chosen as the South East 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 Senacre Wood came up with a model to stop arguments over the washing up. Sensors in the robot’s eyes would spot the dirty plates. Extendable plates wash and put away the plates and a bottle at the top mixes water and washing up liquid. Egg boxes, bottles, straws and even a net curtain were used.

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 Senacre 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.

Peter Hellman, head teacher of Senacre 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," he 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."

"Senacre 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