Congratulations!
Rainbow Medal Competition winners: Macy and Halle Millerova
Katarina Johnson-Thompson and funetics announce the winners of the Rainbow Medal Competition
The Rainbow Medal Competition has been celebrating the great work of keyworkers during the Covid-19 Lockdown.
Put your hands together… and drum roll please… our winners are Macy and Halle Millerova. The sisters aged 8 and 6 come from Sheffield and attend Carfield Primary School, Meersbrook, Sheffield. Both have started to enjoy running - as well as taking part in performing arts.
Recognising Keyworkers
When funetics and the England Athletics team decided to launch the funetics Home School Pack to support parents and teachers trying to home school primary school children at the start of the Covid-19 lockdown; the idea of a competition to recognise Keyworkers was born. It was also decided that the competition would help spread the word that the Home School Pack was and still is available and free of charge.
funetics ambassador Katarina Johnson-Thompson then agreed to invite primary school children to take part in the competition, and the idea to design a Rainbow Medal became the ask. Children across the country recognise medals for their symbolism with success and appreciation.
Commenting on the competition and the winners, Katarina said: "I have so enjoyed being involved with the funetics Design a Rainbow Medal competition. To see the not just the talent and the fun expressed in the drawings but the children’s understanding of the different keyworker roles has been amazing.
"With over 300 entries, there is clearly a lot of support amongst children for keyworkers. The competition also seems to have tapped into the children’s love for rainbows, drawing and competitions.
"Even a shared love of ballet - one of my first passions as a young girl - came into the video call conversation I had with the winners Halle and Macy, both of whom who are into their performing arts, drawing and running.
"Meeting them and being part of the competition has been fun and inspirational. There is and rightly so, a lot of love for keyworkers at the moment and it was great to hear about how the kids and their families have been keeping fit and active during lockdown."
Zuzana, mother of sisters and winners Macy and Halle Millerova, commenting on their entry and the video call they both won with Katarina Johnson-Thompson said:
"The girls were very happy and excited, as well as proud when they found out they had won the competition.
"The idea of designing the medal really appealed to us all as Halle absolutely loves anything to do with craft and rainbows and Macy is always interested in creative projects. At the same time, I saw this as an opportunity to talk to the girls about the current situation and importance of all keyworkers and do it through the creative and fun way without losing their interest."
"The video-call the girls had with Katarina was a perfect prize. The girls were so surprised and pleased to learn that Katarina loved ballet when she was young; as both my girls enjoy being involved with Sheffield Performing Arts."
Runners up
Here are the fantastic Rainbow Medals from our 6 runners up (in no particular order) and what they had to say about the competition.
And our six runners up are...
- Lily Romans, age 8, attends Scargill C of E Primary School, located in West Hallam in Derbyshire
- Jasmine Gardiner who is in year 3 at Ivy Lane School in Chippenham.
- Byron Gussin, age 6, attends St James CE Primary School, Southam, Warwickshire
- Sisters, Sabah and Eliana Cresswell from Ashbourne, Derbyshire
- Poppy Hewitt, age 6, attends Tennyson Road Primary School in Luton
- Arisa Burgess attends Leweston School in Sherborne, Dorset
Comments from the runner’s up parents start with Paul Gussin, father to Byron: “Byron is very keen on athletics and takes part in events through his local athletics club (Leamington C&AC). Bryon’s final medal design was actually a blend of two of the many he had designed, and with his Mum being a front-line keyworker for the NHS this really captured his imagination.
“Byron also worked through the funetics Home School Pack home school pack, and it helped me as I am responsible for home schooling currently. We found it very good, and specifically found the fact it was related to athletics very useful as it captured their imagination. Byron enjoyed the maths and human body the most!”
Jeremy Cresswell, Sabah’s father said: “Both Sabah and her younger sister, Eliana, entered because they adore sport and are really missing taking part in sports hall athletics, swimming, netball and school running clubs, and the various competitions. This competition gave them both a real sense of participation in sporting events during the current lockdown vacuum.
“Both girls completed the Home School Pack, and both thought it was great fun. It provided challenges in line with their home-schooling tasks set through their primary school.
“Reviewing information on the funetics programme, it looks like it is a great tool for increasing motivation and encouraging participation in sport.”
Alan Burgess, Arisa’s father said: “Arisa is really happy to win a goody bag - she jumped up and shouted "Yes, I wanted a goody bag!".
“She was also disappointed that she wasn't going to speak with KJT but said, at least she will know my name now! KJT is my idol and for her to think my medal is good is amazing."
Heather Hewitt, Poppy’s mother said: “Poppy entered the competition as she loves earning medals, so she was keen to design one: especially as she wants to be an artist when she is older.
“Poppy picked people who she thinks are super-heroes within the NHS, the fire brigade and the police.
“I am super proud of Poppy and I hope she carries on following her dream to be an artist.”
Commenting on her daughter Lily’s achievement, Laura Romans said: “Lily was thrilled to be a runner up as she put a great deal of effort into her medal design and was really proud of it. So she was so happy to find out that other people liked it too.
“Lily entered as both myself and her dad are key workers. I am a teacher and her dad is a police officer. She has seen how hard we have been working through Lockdown and really wanted to do it for us. She has also recently taken up running and managed to finish the 50K virtual running challenge for May. She loves collecting medals to show her achievements and so really liked the idea of designing her own.
“And Lily really liked the fun activities in the funetics Home School Pack. She loves doing anything that gets her active and having fun.”
Anna Gardiner commenting on her daughter Jasmine’s entry said: “Jasmine was so thrilled...she said she felt amazing and excited and it absolutely made her day!
“Jasmine entered the competition mainly because she thought it was fun and different and she loves races so that she can get medals. And she wanted other people to have a medal that they could be proud of too. Also, her sister is athletics mad and she wanted to do it to support Layla.”
