A team of talented youngsters have come out on top at a major national competition designed for students to use design thinking approaches and human-centred designs to solve real-world problems.

The team, made up of four Year 7 ̨��swag Academy Haydock students, landed the Connect Category award after being one of ten finalists, from 119 entries, in the V&A Innovate National Schools Challenge, led by the Victoria and Albert Museum. 

Team members Dinil Salwathura, Robert Porter, Logan Potter & Luke Eaves headed to The V&A Museum in London for the Pitching and Awards Day on March 22nd to deliver their pitch to over 100 people, including the competition's judges.

The three judges for the day were Zoe Laughlin, Co-founder and Director of the Institute of Making and the Materials Library, Magid Magid, Race and Climate Justice and Founder and Director of Union of Justice, and Rama Gheerawo, Director of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design at the Royal College of Art.

The youngsters from the Clipsley Lane-based secondary school wowed judges with their design for their ultimate facemask, while outlining the research and work they undertook in coming up with their design.

Dinil said:

“We are so happy to have won the award. It was a very nervy day, on the way down to London we were all talking about it but we just decided to try our best and give it all we could. 

“The judges asked us some hard questions during the pitch, but thankfully we had covered most of the things we thought could come up so we were able to give them the answers they were looking for.”

This year’s competition challenged students to design a solution to a real-world problem and were told to explore one of three contextual challenges inspired by the V&A’s new Design 1900-Now galleries that ask critical questions about the issues shaping the world. These were Renew, Connect and Move.

Within their chosen context, students discover a problem they want to solve leading to a new design solution.

For their entry, the impressive ̨��swag Academy Haydock team explored ‘Connect’ and gave themselves the task of designing the ultimate facemask, to help overcome barriers in communication whilst wearing face coverings that will enable us to connect with others more. 

Luke said:

“We realised that because of the pandemic, face masks are an essential part of everyday life for many people, but our research highlighted that this has brought with it a lot of trouble for many people. Ultimately, we wanted to do something that could help people.”

The team’s winning facemask design boasts features such as headphones, allowing background noise to be filtered out, and a clear plastic centre, enabling those who are hearing impraired to lip read and allow others to see facial expressions of the wearer more clearly.

Rebecca Critchley, who accompanied the students on their successful trip and a Design Technology Technician at the school, said:

“Everyone at ̨��swag Academy Haydock is delighted for the students, it really is an incredible achievement for them to win this.

“The proudest moment for me was when they were practising their pitch in the auditorium. Seeing their work projected on a big screen behind them as they were helping each other with the microphones. 

“They’ve grown so much in both abilities and confidence since starting Young Designers in September and whilst it’s always nice to bring home a trophy, this competition has rewarded them with so much more. It’s taught them about bravery, communication and friendships. It’s been an experience I’ll never forget.”