A primary school pupil from Renfrewshire is celebrating being named one of 11 winners in a UK-wide design competition.
Youngsters across Britain have taken strides to get their hands on his winning design. Andrei, from Kirklandneuk Primary School, entered the WOW badge design competition from Living Streets, the UK charity for everyday walking.
WOW is Living Streets’ award-winning walk to school challenge which sees kids who walk, wheel, cycle, scoot or park-and-stride to school at least once a week rewarded with collectable badges each month.
The 2024 theme was ‘Walk with Imagination’ and challenged pupils to use their creativity to draw an unusual walk to school. Andrei chose to create a colourful Under the Sea design which was selected out of more than 200,000 entries.
The proud 11-year-old said: “I imagined that I am walking under the sea. There is no pollution, the sea is beautiful and clean.”
Kirklandneuk Primary has also topped a Scottish leaderboard of WOW schools in honour of the high number of pupils who travel actively to school.
Andrei was joined by representatives from Strathclyde Partnership for Transport and Living Streets mascot Strider to celebrate the winning design and the school’s leaderboard success.
Andrei’s design has now been turned into one of the monthly badges and will be awarded to pupils in over 1,500 schools across the UK who travel actively to school during January.
Catherine Woodhead, chief executive of Living Streets, said: “WOW is a great way to help keep children healthy and happy by encouraging them to be active every day.
“More children walking to school also means fewer cars around the school gates – making them safer and cleaner places.
“Children love taking part in WOW and collecting the recyclable badges. This year, we were looking for engaging, fun and colourful depictions of ‘Walk with Imagination’ – and the winning designs certainly delivered.
“Andrei should be very proud to have pupils across Scotland, England and Wales taking strides to get their hands on his design.”
And Andrei has been praised by Kirklandneuk Primary head teacher, Karen MacKechnie, who added: “We commend Andrei for his wonderful Under the Sea design – well done!
“We’re also delighted to have topped the WOW Top Ten leaderboard once again, thanks to the commitment of our pupils to choose to walk, wheel, scoot, cycle and park-and-stride to school. Active travel isn’t just good for our bodies, it’s also helping the environment and making our community a nicer place to be.”
This week also sees the launch of the 2025 badge competition for WOW – the walk to school challenge. The 2025 theme is Walk with Joy.
Pupils are encouraged to create designs that make them smile, whether that’s meeting a cute dog or having fun with friends on the journey to school.
Over 200 primary schools in Scotland take part in WOW, delivering on average a five to 10 per cent increase in pupils walking to school, with a corresponding drop in car use.
If your school would like to get involved with WOW – please contact [email protected] or visit livingstreets.org.uk to find out more.
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