Bevan Commission announces winners of Bevan Young Future Thinkers Award.
The Bevan Commission has announced the winners of the Bevan Young Future Thinkers Awards,
recognising outstanding contributions to health and well-being in Welsh schools. The awards were
presented by Derek Walker, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, at the Bevan Commission’s
landmark conference, The Tipping Point: Where next for health and care?.
The Bevan Young Future Thinkers Award, in partnership with Welsh Network of Healthy Schools
Schemes, invited schools across Wales to showcase their initiatives to encourage and support health
and well-being in and outside of schools. The Bevan Commission received a dynamic range of creative
and innovative submissions, demonstrating the enthusiasm and potential of future generations to
transform health and social care.
The first award of the evening was presented to Radnor Primary School for their remarkable “Ride to
Radnor” initiative. The initiative involved children cycling to school, supported by parents, volunteers,
and local businesses. This holistic approach not only promoted physical activity and sustainable
transportation but also fostered community engagement. The second award celebrated Cantonian High
School’s initiative to raise awareness about the importance of bowel screening which encouraged
children to act as advocates for screening participation.
Alongside the two winners, a further five school projects were given highly commended awards for
excelling in certain categories:
Big Bocs Bwyd (Cadoxton Primary School). Award: A more Equal Wales
Improving School Grounds (Whitchurch Primary School). Award: A Globally Responsible Wales
Outdoor Science (Ysgol Llanfair DC). Award: Highly Innovative
Joe Junior & Dragonfit Boxing (Ty Gwyn Special School). Award: A Healthier Wales
Student Enrichment Programme (Willows High School). Award: Cohesive Communities
All these projects were seen to have developed ideas that demonstrated innovative approaches to
health and well-being and had the potential to be scaled up to benefit public health. All the students
who took part have proven the exciting potential of future generations to make a big difference to health
and well-being.
Lex Gainsbury, Consultant in Public Health at Public Health Wales said:
“Schools play a vital role in supporting the health and well-being of the whole school community. They
do this both through the education of our ‘future thinkers’ and by building positive environments which
foster the skills, knowledge, behaviors, attitudes, and values that support lifelong well-being.
The Welsh Network of Healthy Schools Programme works in partnership with schools across Wales to
support them to embed a whole school approach to health and well-being with a strong focus on
understanding need, involvement, and sustainability. The Young Bevan Future Thinkers Award was a
great opportunity to showcase the commitment schools, their learners and their communities show to
supporting health and well-being and we were delighted for the learners and their schools to receive
such recognition as part of the NHS at 75 celebrations.”
Karen Trigg, Healthy Schools Team Leader in Cardiff, said:
“We are thrilled that two Cardiff schools are the winners of the Bevan Young Future Thinkers Award.
The diverse range of entries submitted by Cardiff schools demonstrates their commitment to meeting
the health and well-being needs of their local school community and throughout our work with schools
we are constantly inspired by the efforts of the whole school community to promote and protect health
and well-being.”
This award was kindly sponsored by Blake Morgan. You can watch Derek Walker’s presentation of the
awards here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7984–1Qk8&feature=youtu.be. In this presentation,
Derek highlights the crucial importance of implementing long-term proactive actions across Wales to
ensure the well-being of future generations. The entrants to the Young Future Thinker award all
demonstrate such actions, developing ideas and making change that will promote happier and healthier
lives in their local communities, as well as provide examples of good practice.
View the project compendium with details about the winners and highly commended projects here:
bevancommission.org/bevan-young-future-thinkers
The Bevan Commission is hosted and supported by Swansea University.
