The annual Schools Creative Competition, organised by Show Racism the Red Card Wales, was recently showcased. This competition is designed to link directly to the six areas of learning and experiences within the Curriculum for Wales.
The Marriott Hotel in Cardiff hosted the prize winners, parents, teachers, and various guests including Rocio Cifuentes, Children Commissioner for Wales, Emma Rose, President of the National Education Union, and representatives from local authorities, among others. The event was conducted to celebrate the amazing achievements of young people across Wales. All guests were treated to a drink’s reception and a delicious 2 course meal before the formal awards ceremony started.
This year, the creative competition in Wales had the highest number of schools in its history, with over 460 schools across all 22 local authorities and more than 90,000 young people registered. The competition had challenges for the six areas of learning and experiences within the Curriculum for Wales: Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Humanities, Mathematics and Numeracy, Science and Technology, and Languages, Literacy, and Communication. Each category had awards for Primary and Secondary age groups, and a new Outstanding Achievement Award was also added this year.
The Show Racism the Red Card awards were introduced by Dean Pymble, who is the Campaign Manager for Wales. He provided a brief introduction to the event before handing over the hosting duties to Luchia, who was the overall winner of the 2022 awards. Luchia returned to host the event with Donna Ali, who is the Director of BE.Xcellence and a presenter on Cardiff Radio. Donna and Luchia invited Rocio Cifuentes, the Children’s Commissioner Wales, to give the keynote speech, followed by a performance from Conner Allen, who is the former Children’s Laureate Wales. This kicked the awards ceremony off in style.
Stuart Williams, the Chair of the Welsh Advisory Committee for Show Racism the Red Card and policy officer for the National Education was joined by former professional footballer and Cardiff City Under 21’s manager Darren Purse on stage to present the new Outstanding Achievement Award.
Stuart talked about the work the Welsh Advisory Committee do and how proud he is to have supported the charity for many years.This Outstanding Achievement award recognizes pupils with additional learning needs and produced outstanding entries from across all six categories. The primary award was given to Lexi-Leigh Roberts from Burlais Primary School for her incredible art work, while Lisha Marie Wyatt from Bryn y Deryn & Carnegie Centre PRU received the award for her “Where is the Love” rap.
In the expressive arts category, pupils were tasked with creating a song, rap, performance, or speech that promotes anti-racism and equality within their school. Before the competition began, Ibby from IBY World showed a video of his recent collaboration with New Balance and Cardiff City FC, celebrating authentic culture through global organisations. Afterwards, Ibby discussed his journey and how he got to where he is today.
The runners-up prize for the primary school category were awarded to Jensen Turner from Albert Primary and Ralph Perkins from St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School. Brichgrove Primary School won the category for Primary Schools. For the secondary school category, George Penney, Eva Rees, Chad Harrison-Bevan, Regan Phillips, and Abe Edwards from Milford Haven School received the runners-up prize. They also treated the guests to a live performance of their song “Equality”. Iestyn Barellie from Ysgol Greenhill School won the top prize.
The Health and Wellbeing category challenge was sponsored by the Welsh Rugby Union and focussed on creating a poster or banner to be displayed in sports stadiums. The goal was to combat racism within sports and spread an anti-racist message. Mustafa Mohamed, from Foundation 4 Sport – a grassroots sports development and coaching organization based in the heart of the most diverse communities of Wales, presented this award along with National Inclusion Manager at the WRU, Darren Carew. Darren talked about the work the WRU is doing to increase diversity in rugby. Leying Li from Cwm Glas Primary School picked up the runners-up prize for the primary school age group with Emily Stewart & Evie Leonard from Ysgol Llanddulas winning the category. Ella Beale-Roberts from Cwmtawe Community School was our secondary-age runner-up with Birch Class from Trinity Fields School and Resource Centre being crowned the winners.
The Humanities category sponsored by Cardiff Met University and DARPL was next with pupils asked to focus on their local area uncovering and telling untold stories of people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds from their community. Leon Andrews from DARPL Presented the awards and talked about the DARPL partners and what they are doing to support anti-racism professional learning and leadership in Wales.
Ava Gallagher and Lottie Grace Evans, from Burlise, received the runners-up prize for their research about Otis Bolamu and his work in their local area.Mollie Grodka, from Hafod y Wern Community Primary School, won the top prize from Leon for her research on Enrico Stennett and his activism work in North Wales in the primary school age group.
In the secondary school age group, Ava John from Queen Elizabeth High School was awarded the runners-up prize for her research on Patti Flynn. Thasara Wijenayaka Kankanamge, also from Queen Elizabeth High School, was crowned the winner for her work on Banita Sandhu.
Natalie Hodgkinson from Boss and Brew Academy presented the Mathematics and Numeracy category. She spoke about their social enterprise that focuses on tackling unemployment in Cardiff through speciality coffee. The Mathematics and Numeracy category’s challenge was centred around using numeracy skills to create a physical 3D structure that promotes, supports, and embraces anti-racism.
The runners-up in the Primary School age group were Ashling Owen from Thornhill Primary School, and the winner was Inaya Hussain from Lansdown Primary School. The Secondary School age group was also a tough competition. The runners-up were Jem Barker, Sam Knights, and Iestyn Barellie from Ysgol Greenhill School. The top prize was won by Toby Swain and Alfie Thomas from Ysgol Ty Coch. Who created a Lego piece that depicts the world with all the different skin colours around it, with a heart in the middle showing the need for anti-racism and inclusion work.
Yusuf Ibrahim, Vice Principal of Cardiff and the Vale College created the world’s first Anti-Racism Metaverse, which offers an immersive learning experience on Anti-Racism. He presented the awards for Science and Technology.You can access the Anti-Racism Metaverse at https://www.antiracism.wales.
The Science and Technology category, sponsored by teacher active, focused on innovation and encouraged pupils to create plans for how technology can be used as a tool for social good to ensure that Wales becomes an anti-racist country by 2030.
Zachary Naunton from Howardian Primary was the runner-up in the primary category for creating a “racism radar” that detects racism and projects a hologram with an anti-racism message to educate people. Tristan Culley from Golwg y Cwm received the winner’s prize for demonstrating fantastic coding skills to reinforce anti-racism within schools for young people.Lacey Cooper from Bryncelynnog Comprehensive School was awarded the runner-up prize in the secondary category for creating an anti-racism watch that detects racist language and informs people of who is being racist, so they can stop and educate them. Isla Hodgson from Bedwas High School received the winner’s prize for her VR headset that provides an innovative way to immerse people in the experience of racism and educate them on the harm it causes.
The last category was presented by Jaziea Farag, CEO of Courage to Climb. She discussed her book, “My Birthmark and Me” and the work of Courage to Climb. The Languages, Literacy and Communications Challenge focused on creating a piece of writing on racism or anti-racism, which could be fictional or factual.
Both primary and secondary age groups produced emotional and impactful pieces of writing. The prize winners were given the opportunity to perform on stage. Mahi Kaur from Lansdown Primary was the runner-up in the primary age group, while Preston Grant from Albert Primary was awarded the winner. In the secondary age group, Mollie Connor from Lewis Girls’ School received the runner-up prize, and Anabia Khan from Ysgol Bassaleg took the top spot as the winner.
During the Welsh Creative Competition, Emma Rose, the President of the National Education Union and the main sponsor of the event, presented the overall winner with an Apple iPad. She also discussed the excellent work that Show Racism the Red Card is doing across Wales and the partnership between the NEU and SRtRC educating trainee teachers across the country.
The judges had a tough time deciding the winner, but in the end, Anabia Khan from Ysgol Bassaleg was crowned the overall winner of the 2024 Creative Competition for her short poem that demonstrated the impact of racism and importance of anti-racism. She was invited back to the stage to receive her prize.
Dean Pymble, Campaign Manager for Wales at Show Racism the Red Card said “The young people have done a fantastic job creating their anti-racism themed artwork for this year’s creative competition. I’ve loved seeing the six categories linked to the curriculum and the reach of the competition grow year on year. An unbelievable 90,000 young people registered to take part across 461 school this year. That’s an incredible 30% of all schools in Wales. Impressive, and that we engaged schools across all 22 local authorities shows there is a commitment to anti-racism within Welsh Schools. We need to continue the commitment to eradicate racism in all its forms across society in Wales if we’re going to achieve Welsh Government’s vision of an anti-racist nation by 2030.”
Comments