Talented young designers from Worthing enjoy national competition success

Davison CE High School for Girls students Ruby Wood, Bea Buchanan, Lamara Philp and Emma Statton came third in the Design Ventura 2020 competition

Ruby Wood, Bea Buchanan, Lamara Philp and Emma Statton, who are all year-nine students at Davison CE High School for Girls in Worthing were awarded third place in the annual Design Ventura 2020 competition, after being shortlisted from more than 15,000 participants.

Their design, called Positivitree, was a giftable plant in pyramid packaging, aimed at boosting mental wellbeing.

Ruby, Bea, Lamara and Emma all agreed: “The lockdown has shown us how fragile life is. News reports have been full of stories of people feeling lonely and losing their way and we wanted to make a difference. Our quirky design symbolises growing your mind set.”

The students met after school to create their design. Their research showed young people aged nine to 18 can struggle with mental health issues and would benefit from a product they could tend to. And so Positivitree was born.

After several tweaks and help from the design technology team at Davison, including teachers Jane Green and Carl Boswell, they created a high-quality, professional product.

Positivitree was one of seven products to be shortlisted and the team, along with Mrs Green and Mr Boswell, was invited to an award ceremony at the Design Museum in London earlier this month.

Mrs Green and Mr Boswell said: “We are thrilled that these very creative students secured the prestigious third place.

“This was the first time we had entered the competition. We, as a community, need to find and celebrate our engineers of the future and show them these skills can lead to big things.

“The celebration day at the Design Museum in London was amazing. We met famous designers and received goody bags. It was an experience we will never forget.”

Betsy Carter, in year eight at the school, was one of the top-five selected students who attempted the Design Ventura mini challenge.

Betsy’s design has been translated by a professional illustrator and included as part of the Design Ventura 2020 Exhibition at the Design Museu,m which runs until the end of August.