News The Rio 2016 education programme, known as Transforma, has the mission of taking the Olympic and Paralympic Games into schools And thanks to a partnership between the education, test events and ticketing teams at the organising committee, this has become a two-way process With more than 2,000 Transforma students having already attended the Rio 2016 test events, the programme is taking schools into the Olympic and Paralympic Games The presence of 400 kids from Transforma schools helped create an inspirational atmosphere at the judo test event earlier this month, drawing warm praise from the International Judo Federation (IJF) For the youngsters, seeing top-level sport in Carioca Arena 1 in Barra Olympic Park was a special experience “It was a unique opportunity for me, unforgettable, I loved being at that place”, said Patrícia Holanda da Silva, from the SESI school in the neighbourhood of São Gonçalo Adriana Gonzaga de Mendonça, who goes to the same school, felt she had experienced a taste of what the Games will be like, saying: “Judging by the test event, the Games will be thrilling ”In February, the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre hosted the FINA Diving World Cup, the test event that welcomed the largest number of students so far About 700 youngsters attended the four days of training and competitions, which also served as an Olympic qualifier “Our students were able to watch closely as Juliana Veloso, who will represent Brazil at the Rio 2016 Games, competed against the best divers in the world”, said Cida Santos from the Seropédica Municipal Education Office, who accompanied students from Valtair Gabi School to the Olympic Park The gymnastics test event will be staged at Rio Olympic Arena on 16-22 April and will see an even larger number of Transforma students in attendance Twenty schools will take about 800 children to the final Olympic qualifier Transforma took students to the first Rio 2016 test event – the Aquece Rio sailing regatta in August 2014, when they produced a sustainability-themed grafiti art show – and last year students from 33 schools attended the equestrian, rowing, archery, hockey and boxing test events The Transforma students whip up the atmosphere at the judo test event (Photo: Rio2016/Claudia Rodgers)