17 undergraduate students at Kent Law School took part in an incredible project during February/March 2024 called School Tasking.
Using the format of the hit TV show, Taskmaster, an exciting outreach project enabled young people to learn about interesting aspects of the law through fun and interactive tasks set in the style of the show. This initiative was founded by Dr Ali Struthers from University of Warwick and it is the first time that it has been rolled out nationally by 32 other law schools.
School Tasking is a widening participation project for schools in less advantaged areas and is taught to year 5 pupils (aged 10 – 11). They have the chance to practise key skills, such as teamwork, communication, and at times, some very interesting lateral thinking. 
Kent law School students worked with children from a diverse range of backgrounds including Five Acre Wood School in Maidstone (which is a District Special School for children with profound, severe and complex learning difficulties, including Autistic Spectrum Disorder), Gordon Children’s Academy (Strood), Wayfield Primary School (Chatham), and this year’s winners, New Road Primary School (Chatham). Their tasks were judged by their peers (Taskmasters) from Blean Primary School. New Road Primary School are competing in the regional finals at Queen Mary, University of London on 17th April 2024, alongside three other teams who worked with Queen Mary and the University of Hertfordshire.
Participating classes were split into teams of 5-6 and competed against each other, and other schools, locally and nationally in a bid to be crowned School Tasking Champions at the Champion of Champion which is being held in June 2024.
The Kent Law School students formed teams for each participating local primary school, led by Pavitra Gadekar and Wadana Khan (both Law LLB finalists), Yaman Midani and Kimberley Fletcher (both Senior Status Law LLB finalists from Canada) and coached by Johanne Thompson (Senior Lecturer at Kent Law School).
After the programme was completed, Wadana commented that ‘the school tasking was a stimulating and enjoyable experience. It provided me with the opportunity to explore the law with a demographic who aren’t familiar with it. Overall, it was an extremely fulfilling experience!’
Kimberley added that ‘the School Tasking programme was a great learning experience that helps nurture young students’ confidence and instil a passion to study law in the future. It was incredible getting to see the personal growth of the kids throughout the process as they became more knowledgeable, confident and comfortable expressing themselves. Likewise, by teaching the material in creative and innovative ways we felt more equipped in our own legal expertise as Kent law students.’
Ella Ten Doeschate (a second year Law LLB student) explained that ‘I have thoroughly enjoyed my time participating in the school tasking project. Being able to share snippets of the things I am learning in my degree with a fun format was an experience I will never forget. I was also very pleased to be able to utilise some of my hobbies to make the experience even more engaging for the children, such as using juggling as a way of holding attention and making a crocheted doll of Alex Horne.’
Johanne Thompson was thrilled to run an outreach project such as this which included using the format of a TV show, both undergraduate and primary school students and lots of interactive tasks. 
She explained that ‘working on this has been extremely rewarding. Not only watching our students take on the role of educators but seeing how they were able to adapt what they have learned at university and to inspire future lawyers from schools from a diverse range of backgrounds. They thoroughly enjoyed working with the Year 5 children. The chance to see Year 5 students produce the tasks they did, was truly inspiring – our future in law is safe!’
Current law students at Kent Law School who are interested in participating in this unique experience should look out for the sign up information in due course.