Record-Breaking Brainpower! 30/30 Scores, Ice Cream Tiebreakers, and a Golden Pineapple at the 2026 Live Summer Quizzes

What a day of virtual trivia, high energy, and incredible teamwork! On Tuesday, 16th June 2026, classrooms across the region transformed into live game shows as we hosted our annual Live Summer Quizzes via Google Meet.

This year was our biggest tournament in history, packed with flawless scores, nail-biting tiebreakers, and a massive surge in participation. Here is how an unforgettable day of quizzing unfolded!

🍦 Key Stage 1 Makes History!

For the very first time, our youngest pupils joined the tournament—and they absolutely stole the show! An incredible 15 teams and 371 Key Stage 1 children logged on for their exclusive session.

The energy on screen was electric as the mini-quizzers navigated the technology beautifully.

The competition was fiercely close, with an outstanding four different teams achieving absolute perfection and hitting a maximum score of 30/30!

  • 1MS (Mortimer Primary)
  • 1DR (Mortimer Primary)
  • 2VB (Mortimer Primary)
  • The Candy Floss Crew (Stanhope Primary)

To separate this incredible four-way tie, we turned to a mountain of a tiebreaker: How many scoops were on the world’s tallest ice cream cone?

With a correct answer of 120 scoops, The Candy Floss Crew (Year 2) Stanhope Primary kept their cool under pressure, guessing a fantastic 100 scoops to become our first-ever KS1 Quiz Champions!

They take home The Golden Pineapple Trophy

🧠 Key Stage 2 & 3: Morning Minds

The morning heat for Key Stage 2 kicked off with an incredible turnout of 14 teams and 320 children competing. The energy was fantastic, and the classrooms showed immense teamwork and sharp thinking on screen.

While the competition was incredibly fierce, we had one standout result that achieved absolute perfection. Huge congratulations went to our morning heat champions:

🏆 Stanhope Summer Stars (Stanhope Primary School) scoring a flawless 30/30! 🏆

🗺️ Key Stage 2 & 3: An Elite Afternoon Battle

The afternoon heat raised the stakes even further, matching the morning with another 14 teams and 362 children bringing their elite knowledge to the stream. The scoring was spectacular, resulting in a sensational joint tie for first place between two teams who both scored a perfect 30/30:

  • The Flowering Daisies (Biddick Hall Juniors)
  • The Quizzards of Oz (Harton Primary)

Faced with the tiebreaker question—estimating the distance from London to Ibiza in miles—the real distance of 890 miles proved a tough target. But with a brilliant guess of 1,100 miles, The Quizzards of Oz were closest, clinching the afternoon heat victory!

🏆 The Grand Champion & The Golden Pineapple

To crown our overall Key Stage 2/3 tournament champion, we had to compare the tiebreaker results across both the morning and afternoon heats, as we had perfect scores across the entire day.

Our morning winners, Stanhope Summer Stars, guessed 783 miles on their Ibiza tiebreaker—putting them just 107 miles away from the exact answer! Because their guess was the closest overall, the ultimate bragging rights and the highly coveted Golden Pineapple trophy go to…

🍍 Stanhope Summer Stars! 🍍

📊 2026 Quiz By The Numbers:

  • 1,073 Total Children Participating Live
  • 42 Teams Battling it Out
  • 19 Schools Represented
  • 7 Total teams achieving a perfect 30/30 score across the day!

A massive thank you to all the class teachers for coordinating the two-device setups, managing the cameras, and ensuring the day ran like clockwork. Participation certificates have been sent out to all schools to celebrate the students’ amazing achievements.

You all did a phenomenal job, and the teamwork on display was wonderful to see. Have a wonderful rest of the summer term, and we’ll see you at the next quiz!

Phillippa and Steve

The Prompt (Issue 6)

 

Please share this newsletter with colleagues in your setting.

Welcome to Issue 6 of your weekly briefing on all things AI.

 

As Artificial Intelligence continues to reshape the educational landscape, our mission is to ensure South Tyneside schools stay ahead of the curve. Whether you are an AI novice or an AI expert, this is your weekly home for the tools and digital principles defining the future of education.

Each week, we’ll deliver essential updates—ranging from DfE policy shifts to time-saving classroom hacks—specifically curated to reduce teacher workload and enhance learning across our South Tyneside community as safely as possible.

📢 AI Champions Work Group: Join Us!

Haven’t nominated an AI Champion yet? There is still time to get your setting involved.

🛠️ Item 1: People Can Tell You’re Using AI

The structure, the tone, the polish. It all gives it away.

 

Standard AI outputs often look overly rehearsed, perfectly balanced, and distinctly non-human. Here are 6 prompts designed to break the standard AI patterns and give your text an authentic, human voice:

1. The Real Person Rewrite

 

Prompt: “You are an editor with a sharp eye for writing that reads as constructed rather than spoken. Rewrite this the way someone who actually lived this experience would say it — rougher around the edges, more direct. Remove anything that feels rehearsed, over-built, or designed to sound impressive. Text: [paste].”

2. Thought Flow Correction

 

Prompt: “This isn’t a grammar fix — it’s a thinking fix. Rewrite this so the ideas move the way a real mind moves: uneven in places, punchy in others, occasionally slow. Disrupt any pattern where the writing feels too controlled or too evenly paced. Text: [paste].”

3. Pattern Breaker

 

Prompt: “You specialize in identifying the tells that expose AI-generated writing. Go through this and take them apart one by one. Mix up the structure, soften rigid phrasing, and make each word feel chosen by a person in real time — not produced by a pattern. Text: [paste].”

4. Voice Builder

 

Prompt: “You are building a voice that sounds like it belongs to one real person. Rewrite this so it carries a clear perspective — not the tone of a neutral observer trying to please everyone. Let actual opinions, small contradictions, and genuine shifts in tone come through naturally. Text: [paste].”

5. Make It Feel Like Something

 

Prompt: “Rewrite this with one thing in mind: when someone reads it, it should land. Keep everything that matters but remove anything that feels flat, calculated, or forgettable. It needs to sound like it came from someone who actually cares about what they’re saying. Text: [paste].”

6. The Believability Test

 

Prompt: “You are a reader who immediately distrusts writing that sounds too clean. Read through this sentence by sentence and rewrite anything that feels constructed, over-corrected, or too precise. The result should read like something a real person said out loud without second-guessing every word. Text: [paste].”

🚨 Item 2: Safeguarding & Online Safety – The “Single Source” Trap

Following on from the insights shared regarding Google Search’s “AI Mode,” we need to address a growing safeguarding concern across digital literacy: digital passivity.

Because modern conversational AI search engines deliver a single, highly confident answer instead of a diverse list of websites, pupils are losing the natural habit of comparing multiple sources. If children are trained to accept a single AI output as absolute truth, they become highly vulnerable to misinformation and algorithmic bias.

🚨 Actionable Safeguarding Guidance for Settings
  • Active Training: We must move beyond passive internet filtering. Schools need to explicitly teach young learners to cross-examine AI answers rather than taking them at face value.
  • The 3-Point Checklist: Encourage staff to display these three questions next to classroom computers:
  1. Who said it? (Does the AI cite a reliable source?)
  2. Double-check: (Can we find the same fact on a trusted site like BBC Bitesize?)
  3. Is it balanced? (Is the AI only telling us one side of the story?)

🔍 Item 3: Can Your Pupils Spot the AI Fake?

Britannica Education: Real or AI Quiz: Can you tell the difference?

 

To help you tackle this digital literacy challenge head-on, we have highlighted a fantastic, zero-prep whiteboard starter activity for your next lesson!

Instead of trying to source your own examples, you can use the brilliant Britannica Education ‘Real or AI?’ Quiz. It features excellent side-by-side visual comparisons designed to put your pupils’ critical thinking skills to the test.

Click the image or use this link to load the starter quiz.

The resource also features a useful instructional video detailing how to execute a Google reverse image search alongside top tips for spotting AI-generated imagery.

📝 We Want Your Feedback!

We really would appreciate your feedback on how these insights are working in your classrooms. Please take a moment to fill out our feedback form:

👉 AI Newsletter Feedback Form

 

Please feel free to use the form to add any comments, suggestions, or examples of how AI is currently being used in your setting. You can choose to remain completely anonymous, and you can even upload files if you think they would be helpful to share with the wider community. Your input plays a key role in shaping our future updates.

 

Contact Us

If you have any specific questions or suggestions, please contact Steve Robert directly at: [email protected]

The Prompt (Issue 5): AI is changing Google Search – What primary teachers need to know

Please share this newsletter with colleagues in your setting.

Welcome to Issue 5 of your weekly briefing on all things AI.

As AI continues to reshape the educational landscape, our mission is to ensure South Tyneside schools stay ahead of the curve. Whether you are an AI novice or an AI expert, this is your weekly home for the tools and digital principles defining the future of education.

Each week, we’ll deliver three or four essential updates—ranging from DfE policy shifts to time-saving classroom hacks—specifically curated to reduce teacher workload and enhance learning across our South Tyneside community as safely as possible.

AI Champions Work Group

Haven’t nominated an AI Champion yet?

👉 CLICK HERE to access our nomination form.

  • Next Meeting: Wednesday 11th November 2026, 16:00-17:30
  • Venue: The Word
  • Contact: Julia Small to book a place at [email protected]

Item 1: AI is changing Google Search – What primary teachers need to know

Google Search is undergoing its biggest transformation in 25 years with the rollout of “AI Mode,” which trades traditional website links for direct, conversational AI answers.

While this makes searching more fluid, it poses a unique challenge for primary classrooms. Because the AI delivers a single, highly confident response, pupils may stop comparing multiple sources—a vital skill for Key Stage 1 and 2 learners.

To help children navigate this shift safely, schools are encouraged to pair standard filtering safeguards with explicit AI literacy lessons, teaching young learners to question, evaluate, and fact-check AI-generated answers rather than taking them at face value.

Computing At School Blog post written by Ben Davies. > 🔗Read the full article here

Item 2: Prompt of The Week

Photograph a child’s drawing and AI it!


“Turn my drawing into a 3D Pixar style illustration.”

Photograph a child’s drawing and AI it!

Ways to use AI images in the classroom

  1. Character Illustrations: Ask children to describe a book character or historical figure, then generate an AI image to support writing or display.
  2. Visual Story Starters: Use AI to create unusual or surreal images as creative writing prompts.
  3. Topic Posters: Generate themed visuals (e.g. The Great Fire of London, rainforest animals) to support topic work or classroom displays.
  4. Designing Classroom Mascots: Create class or subject mascots to represent values, school rules, or curriculum areas (e.g. “Coding Cat” for Computing).
  5. Image Comparisons: Show real vs AI-generated images and ask children to spot differences or discuss what makes an image believable (links to online safety and media literacy).

Item 3: 🌟 Quick Win for Your Next Staff Meeting

Next time you have 10 minutes of CPD with your staff, show them the NotebookLM Audio Overview.

Drop your school’s complex School Development Plan or a New Curriculum Guidance document into NotebookLM, click “Generate Audio Overview,” and let staff listen to a 10-minute AI-generated, podcast-style discussion of the policy while they drive home.

It is a massive workload-saver that always gets a “wow” reaction from teachers. The file is downloadable, too! You can even interact with the audio overview within NotebookLM using your microphone to ask questions and engage with the audio.

I created a brief audio overview of the KCSIE (Keeping Children Safe in Education) document. Click below to hear it:

AI Newsletter Feedback Form

We really would appreciate your feedback!

Please use our Feedback Form to add any comments, suggestions, or examples of how AI is being used in your setting.

  • You can remain anonymous if you prefer.
  • You can even add files if you think it would be helpful.

Remember, your feedback is important to us and will help with future Newsletters. Thanks!

Questions or Suggestions?

If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact:

Steve Robert: [email protected]