An Ysgol Uwchradd Aberteifi pupil, Molly Newland, has come out on top at the prestigious Innovation Awards 2024 organised by the WJEC and Welsh Government.
Since the start of the prestigious Innovation Awards by the WJEC and Welsh Government 25 years ago, Ysgol Uwchradd Aberteifi has been a frequent finalist at the events and during that time has won all the prizes available.
The Innovation Awards were developed in collaboration with the Welsh Government to inspire creativity among young minds in Wales and provoke them to rethink conventional designs of everyday products and services. Following suit from previous years, the 24th celebration showcased the imaginative talent of young Welsh creatives. The event additionally serves as a reflection on the legacy of Welsh inventors and acknowledges their contributions.
75 projects were selected from Wales for the exhibition, with five from Ysgol Uwchrdd Aberteifi, with Molly winning the AS category and the overall winner for the Innovation Awards 2024. Molly designed and made a GRP rescue board aimed for the use by the RNLI that can be easily stored and dispatched into the sea or river, attached to the casualty, and then used to pull out the casualty from the water using a pulley system with only one person required to operate it.
Molly identified that when rescuing a person out of water it is always a difficult process to get the casualty onto the boat without causing further injury. The weight of a fully clothed wet adult is a significant weight and is always challenging to get them onboard. This is a frequent problem faced by the RNLI. Molly’s experience as a RNLI lifeguard also helped her really appreciate the problem.
Molly Newland, Ysgol Uwchradd Aberteifi pupil and Overall Winner said: “I’m really grateful to have won the AS Level prize and Overall Winner. Everyone’s projects were absolutely incredible, so it’s a tough competition. It means so much to be here and to have even been shortlisted, so to win is an honour. I’d like to say well done to everyone else who was a finalist, their projects are amazing. I’m so pleased and proud to have won and I’d like to thank my family, teachers and my school for all their support.”
Ian Morgan, the Chief Executive of the WJEC announced in his speech that all finalists this year should be very proud of themselves and were now joining an elite club of approximately 250 students who had been awarded an innovation prize out of over 350,000 students over the 25 years. Ysgol Uwchradd Aberteifi coming out with the top prize twice in that time. Although the school has been a frequent prize winner, the overall prize has not been won since 2008 despite many close calls.
Councillor Wyn Thomas, Ceredigion Cabinet Member for Schools and Lifelong Learning said: “These awards are a great opportunity for young people to be creative in an innovative way and its fantastic to see such a good presence from Ysgol Uwchradd Aberteifi at the awards. Huge congratulations to you Molly on a fantastic achievement.”
The Innovation Awards is a showcase for the most creative and innovative project work at A Level and GCSE in Design & Technology in Wales. The purpose of the event is to encourage young people to be technologically innovative and appreciate the importance of both design and technology. The government state that innovative thinking is vital to Wales’s future prosperity.
Presenting the prize to Molly and her teacher Mr Emyr James were Ian Morgan, Chief Executive WJEC, Professor Jas Pal Badyal, Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales and Abi Phillips, Welsh Government Head of Innovation.
