Teacher's Information

If you're interested in entering your students into any of this year's challenges please complete the school registration form (simply click 'register my school now' below).

Once you complete the school registration form we will send you an email confirming your registration. We will also provide a link to our webpage where you can order competition entries.

As the focus on lifelong learning and individual problem solving becomes more important in the classroom, the BMSAQ Challenges are ideal for testing and encouraging your students’ skills in this area. We recommend that you do consider entering all your students for the challenges, as they can sometimes throw up unexpected results! You can also leave it up to students themselves to decide if they would like to enter. Here are a few ways to do so:

1. Try sending out a morning briefing message about the competition, so that form class teachers can read it out to students and start getting the word out rapidly. It could read something like...

"Good morning students, we are excited to announce that our school will be participating in the national 'BM Schools Academic Quiz' competition this year! The competition quizzes students on a wide range of topics including Geography, History, Science, and Culture, going beyond the standard curriculum This is a fantastic opportunity for students to challenge themselves, have fun, and engage in some friendly competition with their peers. Not only is this a great way to learn, but there are also amazing awards to be won at the school, regional, and national levels. Students interested in participating; please sign up with [insert teacher name] teacher by [insert deadline date]."

(Don't forget to adjust this to include the appropriate age groups and date of competition)

2. Display several posters around the school to remind students of the quiz. Don't worry we have made some posters for you to use! Just click here to download.

3. Talk to some students directly who you think could be strong candidates. Try asking them to sign up along with their friends too. 

4. Upload a post to your schools social media pages/ website. These can be seen by students and also parents alike.

We understand how busy teachers are and we truly appreciate those who go the extra mile to ensure every student reaches their maximum potential. To help you understand what to expect when getting involved, we have made a compressive step-by-step guide to our competition.

Joining the challenge:

• Register your School: To get started you will need to register your school and let us know which challenges you are interested in.

• Purchase Entries: After you register we will you send you a link to our webpage where you can order entries. Once we receive your order we will begin to process it.

Before the day of the challenge:

• Keep question papers secure: 

Paper Format: If you have ordered any challenge sets in our paper format, you should expect question papers to arrive one week before the challenge date. On receipt, the question paper packets, still in their despatch packaging, must be moved immediately to a secure room for checking. We will include details of how to check your package via email. Once checking is complete please transfer papers to a secure storage facility, inaccessible to students.

Online Format: If you have ordered any challenge sets in our online format, you should expect student login details to arrive (via email) one week before the challenge date. On receipt, the online login details, still in their email format, must be checked immediately to ensure the correct number of entries have been sent. After checking is complete they must be kept safe and in a memorable location until ready to use. We will include details of how to check your online login entries via email. Once checking is complete you may print students' online login details. However, they must be printed in a location inaccessible to students and must be immediately stored in a sealed envelope and moved to a secure storage facility, inaccessible to students

On the day of the challenge:

• Handling encrypted secure material: Encrypted question papers for students with alternative access arrangements (i.e large font or colour inverted) received via email and subsequently printed, must be immediately stored in a sealed envelope and moved to a secure storage facility, inaccessible to students. Papers must not be printed more than 90 minutes before the scheduled challenge start time.

• Removing question papers/ printed online login details from secure storage: Question paper packets/ printed online login details should be taken to the designated examination room(s) as close to the start of the examination as possible. They must not be removed from the secure storage facility and taken to the designated examination room(s) any earlier than 60 minutes prior to the starting time for the examination. The question papers/ printed online login details must not be left unattended. Care must always be taken to ensure the security of the challenge. 

• Starting times for examinations: The challenge start time is decided by school organisers. 

During the challenge:

A member of staff must be present at all times during the 35 minute challenge to invigilate students and uphold the integrity of the challenge process.

The Invigilator must:

• Ensure all question papers remain covered until the start time.

• Ensure the time allowed for all BMSAQ Challenges is 35 minutes, for student's not eligible for extra-time (student's eligible of extra time shall receive an additional 25% of challenge time, thus will have 43 minutes and 45 seconds).

• Ensure a clock (digital or analog) or timer is clearly visible to all students during the challenge.

• Ensure students are seated exam style, so that it is hard to see where others are placing/selecting their answers.

• Collect the answer sheets and any rough working after the Challenge has finished and retain them until results are released, in case of technical and uploading errors (paper Challenges only).

• Collect the question papers back in from students after the Challenge and only release them back to the students after the results are released (paper Challenges only).

• Do not clarify questions or give further information to participating students.

• Record any malpractice, which must then be sent to the BMSAQ team for investigation.

After the challenge:

• Uploading student answer sheets: You must scan and send your students answer sheets to us on the day they sit the challenge. On the day of the challenge we will send you an email reminder. 

• Issuing Results: We aim to issue results to schools in less than 30 days after the challenge. Certificates will be sent along with results via email. For students entitled to further awards it may take longer for these to arrive.

And you're done!

The following arrangements may be provided to a candidate at the time of his/her examinations without prior approval:

• 25% extra time (for candidates who are normally entitled to extra time in school )

• amplification equipment;

• braillers;

• closed circuit television (CCTV);

• coloured overlays;

• low vision aid/magnifier;

• optical character reader (OCR) scanners.

Each Challenge is available in a paper and online format. If a candidate requires enlarged text or an alternative format of Challenge please contact BMSAQ.

Other access arrangements (including scribes and prompters) must be approved by BMSAQ at least 2 weeks before the Challenge date.. Please contact BMSAQ via email to enquire. 

Contact Us: info@bmsaq.com