Winners announced: The Goldsmiths’ Awards for Community Engagement 2024
Cambourne Village College, Cambridge has been awarded a Gold Medal, and Fir Vale School, Sheffield a Silver Medal, in the finals of the 2024 Goldsmiths’ Awards for Community Engagement.
Created in 2018, the prestigious awards, which are supported by a grant from The Goldsmiths’ Company Charity, have attracted close to 400 entries from secondary schools across the United Kingdom since inception. The awards recognise and celebrate the extracurricular efforts that the schools and their pupils make to support local communities through volunteer work and charitable initiatives.
Following two-day regional heats held in March - where students from fifteen schools presented their community engagement activities and answered questions from a panel of judges, eight finalists were selected to attend Goldsmiths’ Hall on 25 June, for final presentations and the announcement of this year’s winners.
In order to be considered for an award, the students must demonstrate their school’s genuine and continuous engagement across several years on multiple projects, indicating how community engagement is an integral part of the school’s DNA. The most successful projects, as with the eight finalist schools, are student led and involve direct community engagement as well as fundraising, ensuring each initiative has a significant and long-lasting impact not only on the community but also on the students themselves.
Cambourne Village College, Cambridge, was awarded the Gold Medal for the exceptional work that pupils have done in forging and supporting communities both in and outside of the school. The judges celebrated the diversity of their contribution and praised pupils for shining a light on the ecological landscape.
Fir Vale School, Sheffield was awarded the Silver Medal for the spectacular work that students have done to raise awareness of the environmental pressures on the diverse groups within their local community and supporting the development of their wellbeing. The judges praised the students for the visible impact made upon their community and commented on the clear sense of care and fondness for both the locality and the people within.
“Academic results are universally recognised as a measure of a school’s success. These are the first awards to recognise the remarkable contributions they make to their local communities. The Goldsmiths’ Awards for Community Engagement aim to drive awareness of the projects and activities that these thoughtful students undertake to create long lasting impact in their communities and upon themselves. We were thrilled to receive so many fantastic entries and had a wonderful day, welcoming the eight finalists to Goldsmiths’ Hall. All of the finalists were exceptional, and our gold medal winner Cambourne Village College, Cambridge and our silver medal winner Fir Vale School, Sheffield, outstanding.”
Mosslands School won the awards in 2023 for their project to help keep young people away from crime. Mosslands students have for the past three years worked with Merseyside Police to deliver their Active Citizenship project. This involves after-school sessions once a week to engage young people with volunteering, Scouts, the police cadets, and martial arts. Three-hundred and sixty young people were involved last year.