Rules and Roles

Schools:

must send the EDB NET and one LET to attend the professional development workshop on puppetry in October 2019 and the cluster meeting in January 2020.
must send two teachers to escort students to the competition in late March – April (TBC).

Teachers will need to:

participate fully in all puppetry activities at the professional development workshop;
use what they have learnt to prepare their students for the competition; and
ensure that students are escorted to, and supervised at, the competition.

Students will need to:

participate fully in any training sessions organised by their teachers in preparation for the competition; and
participate in the competition by staging and performing a 5 – 7-minute puppet show at the competition in late March –April 2020 (pending venue confirmation). Each team will perform only once.

The ‘Story to Stage’ entry form must be submitted from 2-6 September 2019. Late entries may NOT be considered.
If the competition is over-subscribed, priority will be given to new schools and schools which applied last year (2018/19) but were not selected for the competition and, thereafter, by lucky draw.
The story title and the team members’ names will be collected in February, after the cluster meeting.
Certificates of Achievement will be distributed to the schools at the end of the competition.

Each school can enter one team only.
A team consists of 5 puppeteers (performers). The team must be made up of students from Primary 4-6 (KS2). All students involved should play a part in the performance.

The performance must be between 5 and 7 minutes long. A first bell will be rung once at 5 minutes and a second bell will be rung twice at 7 minutes. If the performance is shorter than 5 minutes or longer than 7 minutes, one mark per second will be deducted. 30 marks will be deducted for having an extra teacher or student backstage. Each team has 5 minutes to set up. 10 marks will be deducted for every extra minute or part of a minute.
The puppets should tell the story through their lines with minimal use of a narrator.
The performers should wear black tops and dark bottoms.
Simple props and backdrops may be used.
A puppetry tent will be provided for all the performances.
Teams must arrive at least 15 minutes before the competition starts. Start and end times will be confirmed later.
The audience (teachers and students) must be respectful to the performers throughout. At the discretion of the event organisers, marks may be deducted if any team members in the audience cause a disturbance. Mobile phones must be switched off or set to silent mode.