WATCH: Locked inside Victoria College

Tuesday 02 April 2019

Students at Victoria College have been locked in one of the school's oldest buildings in a bid to test their academic abilities, as part of the first ever Escape Room Challenge.

The boys had to race against the clock to solve clues and free themselves and their teammates from The Temple, a small, historic block at the school which houses the College archive.

The Escape Room riddles and games were designed by Pam Plummer, a history teacher who's in charge of House academic activities and James Wooldridge, the school's librarian and archivist, to test the boys’ problem solving abilities and lateral thinking skills in an "unusual and exciting way."

Mrs Plummer said: "I wanted to find a way of stretching the boys intellectually in a way that would really engage them and be instantly memorable. Not only do they have to think creatively to win this competition, they also have to think on their feet and work together to figure out the answers. It’s fantastic to use the archive as a setting because this is a part of the school that students don’t usually see."

Pictured: The Escape Room was set up like a Victorian office.

Five teams took part in the inaugural challenge, each representing one of the school’s five Houses - Bruce, Braithwaite, Diarmid, Dunlop and Sartorius. Each team included a student from Year 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 in a bid to get the students to work across "year divides."

Cooperation was strongly encouraged as the Escape Room called upon different skills, from observation to mathematics, as well as architectural knowledge. The teams had to solve a series of riddles and clues in just under an hour, and the first to get out were the winners. 

Only one team out of five managed to escape in time, proving that the task was not as easy as some students might have thought. Jamie, a Year 9 student, described the Escape Room as "challenging," while Pranab said it was a "test of the mind."

Pictured: Students worked in teams of five to solve the room's clues.

The students not only enjoyed the novelty of the activity but also the opportunity of working with boys from other years, who they don't get to spend time with normally.

The points won in the Escape Room Challenge will go towards the Ed Le Quesne Cup, a new trophy launched by the school to celebrate science, engineering, technology and maths (STEM) achievements across the school. It is dedicated to former Victoria College science teacher Ed Le Quesne.

Headmaster Alun Watkins commented: "We were praised in a recent Independent Schools Inspection for the range of extra curricular activities and clubs we offer to students, particularly in sports, but we were challenged to provide more intellectual events for the boys.

"It’s an excellent initiative and complements our hugely popular House Cooking competition, which has been running for the first time this term. It’s also something that has great potential to share with other secondary schools."

Watch Express' video to learn more about Victoria College's Escape Room...