School students win major national design competition for second year

Pupils at Outwood Academy won the annual V&A Innovate National Schools Challenge, led by the Victoria and Albert Museum which tasks students to come up with human–centred designs to solve real-world problems.

This year’s judging panel was comprised of three design industry experts; Seetal Solanki, Selasi Setufe, and Michael Omotosho.

The competition has three categories available for students to enter their designs; Adapt, Care and Disrupt.

The team entered the competition last year and came away with a category win.

This year, the team made up of Year 7 and Year 8 students, was shortlisted out of 271 entries for the ‘Care’ category with their ‘Care and Connect Companion’ device.

The device aims to bridge the gaps in mental health support for children and help them to access support from agencies. The design came after the team explored the resources and services currently available to young people in their school, as well as carrying out research within their local community and discussions with a mental health nurse.

The final student pitches were delivered at an event in London on March 21, which saw the Outwood Academy Haydock team surpass their hopes of another category win and come away with the top prize as the overall winners of the challenge.

Once the students had pitched, the judges became emotional and had to be given several minutes to compose themselves.

Afterwards, one judge stated: “This is an exceptional idea that addresses real issues. What you have done here is give those who struggle a voice and make it normal to share your feelings. This has the power to invoke social change.”

Commenting on the success of the students, Richard Weaver, Head of Design and Technology at the school said: “We are immensely proud of this team of young creatives. Winning the ‘Connect’ category last year was a fantastic experience, but coming away as V&A Innovate overall winners this year is an amazing achievement. We were blown away by their perfect pitch that brought the judges to tears.

“This is an incredible group of students; we cannot wait to see what they produce next year.”

One team member, Dinil, in Year 8 added: “After our win last year we thought it would be difficult to replicate that success again. We want to make it a hat trick of wins next year!”

The success didn’t end there for the school as Rebecca Critchley, Teacher of Technology, also scooped a prize, winning the Early Career Teacher of the Year award at the competition.

“To say that I am surprised is an understatement. Being named as V&A Innovate ECT of the Year is an honour.”

Rebecca continued: “I feel incredibly privileged to work in an exceptionally supportive department and recognise how blessed I am with the opportunity to support such bright and creative young people. To consider how their design skills can be a force for change - I can’t think of any better reward than that.”

Speaking of his colleague’s success, Richard Weaver said: “Rebecca is an outstanding young teacher with a bright future ahead of her and is thoroughly deserving of this award.

“Rebecca established the Young Designers group, creating an inclusive club where young people are free to share their experiences and express their ideas to design a better world. She really does raise the standards and transform lives.”