WOW BADGE FACTS 2024-25

Our WOW badges are designed by talented pupils across the UK!

Every year we host our WOW badge design competition and ask schools across the UK to submit their pupils designs. The winning designs then go on to be made in to our WOW badges that are given out every month to our WOW schools.

This year’s theme 'Walk with imagination' challenged pupils to picture a different walk to school and draw where their imagination took them! Almost 200,000 pupils took part, and we received many fantastic designs which made it extremely difficult for our judges to pick the 11 winning designs.

See original badge drawings Find out more about our badge sustainability

HERE'S SOME FUN FACTS ABOUT THIS YEAR'S BADGES:

SEPTEMBER

BUTTERFLY

a little girl rides a butterfly with a rainbow behind her
DESIGNED BY: HOLLY, 10
CHRIST THE SAVIOUR SCHOOL, EALING
  • Butterfly wings are transparent! Even though they look colourful, the wings are made of a see-through material called chitin and covered with thousands of tiny scales that reflect the colours we see.
  • Adult butterflies attach their eggs to leaves with special glue.
  • Butterflies have taste buds on their feet!

OCTOBER

BIRD'S EYE VIEW

a birds eye view of streets with a white bird overhead
DESIGNED BY: GABRIELLA, 11
ST PAULINUS CATHOLIC PRIMARY ACADEMY, WEST YORKSHIRE
  • A bird's-eye view is being able to see something from above, as a bird would see the world. Bird's-eye views can be an aerial photograph or a drawing.
  • They are often used in the making of floor plans and maps.
  • Bird’s-eye views are often used on television for sporting events, such as football or swimming.

NOVEMBER

HOT AIR BALLOON

a young boy stands inside a hot air balloon basket as he flies through the sky
DESIGNED BY: RYAN, 6
ST ANDREW'S PRIMARY SCHOOL, ESSEX
  • Hot air balloons can fly to amazing heights; the world record is over 21,000 metres!
  • The hot air balloon is the oldest form of flying technology that can successfully carry people.
  • Hot air weighs less than the same volume of cold air because it is less dense.

DECEMBER

EAGLE RIDE

a young boy hold on to the feet on an eagle as they fly over tree tops
DESIGNED BY: ANTHONY, 11
BRYN HAFOD SCHOOL, CARDIFF
  • Eagles are large and powerful and are often referred to as the king of all birds.
  • Bald eagles range from 86 to 110 centimetres in height and have a wingspan of up to 2.4 metres.
  • A bald eagle’s gripping strength is ten times stronger than the average grip of an adult human hand.

JANUARY

UNDER THE SEA

a school boy walks under the sea surrounded by sea creatures
DESIGNED BY: ANDREI, 11
KIRKLANDNEUK PRIMARY SCHOOL, RENFREWSHIRE
  • Around 70% of the planet’s surface is covered by oceans. In fact, the oceans hold about 96.5% of all water on Earth.
  • The sea is home to the world’s largest living structure – the Great Barrier Reef. It measures around 2,600km and can even be seen from the Moon!
  • Scientists know of around 226,000 ocean species. More than 90% - as many as two million – are still undiscovered. 

FEBRUARY

DRAGON TRAVEL

a young girl rides on the back of a green dragon
DESIGNED BY: ARCHIE, 8
LUCKINGTON COMMUNITY SCHOOL, WILTSHIRE
  • In Chinese culture, dragons are considered powerful creatures that bring good fortune and wisdom.
  • Komodo dragons mostly live in Indonesia and are giant lizards that can grow to be over 2.5 metres long! They don’t breathe fire, but they do have a VERY poisonous bite.
  • A little dragon is called a dragonet and people who study dragons are called dragonologists.

MARCH

BOOK LIFE

an illustration of a world made of books
DESIGNED BY: AMELIA-MAY, 10
DEEPCAR ST JOHN'S JUNIOR SCHOOL, SHEFFIELD
  • According to Google, there are around 130 million published books.
  • The most expensive book in the world is Leonardo da Vinci’s science diary (called the Codex Leicester) and was sold for $30.8 million in 1994!
  • 'Bibliosma' is the word for loving the way books smell.

APRIL

PARACHUTE

a young boy parachutes through the sky
DESIGNED BY: MARK, 7
SQUIRRELS HEATH INFANT SCHOOL, HAVERING
  • Albert Berry was the first person to jump out of an aeroplane with a parachute in 1912.
  • Parachutes have been used in space exploration to ensure the safe return of astronauts and scientific experiments.
  • Parachuting is not just for humans; some animals have also been trained to use parachutes.

MAY

HOPSCOTCH

two children play hopscotch as a tabby cat watches
DESIGNED BY: CORA, 5
BRYNCETHIN PRIMARY SCHOOL, BRIDGEND
  • Hopscotch was invented around 3,000 years ago to train Roman foot soldiers to improve their footwork.
  • Roman children copied these soldier drills in their play. It didn’t take much time for hopscotch to spread throughout Europe.
  • The world record for the longest hopscotch course is held in the UK, which was over 1,248 metres long!

JUNE

ROAD SURFING

a young girl in school uniform surfs along a river
DESIGNED BY: ANNA, 8
MOSSTODLOCH PRIMARY SCHOOL, MORAY
  • Surfing is one of the oldest sports on Earth with cave paintings of surfing found in Polynesia dating back to the 12th Century!
  • There is an annual World Dog Surfing Championship in North Carolina.
  • The official Guinness World Record for the largest wave ever surfed is over 24 metres in 2017.

JULY

UNICORN

a young girl rides a pink unicorn on a sunny day
DESIGNED BY: FAYE, 6
WOODLEA PRIMARY SCHOOL, EAST HAMPSHIRE
  • The word unicorn means ’one-horn’ and the horn is believed to have magical powers.
  • A group of unicorns is called a ‘blessing’. The unicorn is the official animal of Scotland. Each April, there is a National Unicorn Day!
  • A baby unicorn is called a foal, just like a baby horse, but sometimes, baby unicorns are called ’sparkles’, too!