Press release

Bedwas High School wins visit from Morph Animators

Students at Bedwas High School were treated to a Morph model making workshop yesterday after winning a nation-wide government competition.

This was published under the 2016 to 2019 May Conservative government
Molly Morgan Bedwas High School

The competition, set up by the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO), aimed to inspire creativity amongst the younger generation. It coincided with the 40th anniversary of Aardman, the company behind Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, and Morph.

The competition involved:

  • 4 - 7 year olds designing a birthday present for Shaun the Sheep;
  • 8 - 11 year olds creating a storyboard about Wallace & Gromit’s trip to outer space;
  • 12 - 16 year olds making animated videos wishing Aardman a happy 40th birthday.

A short animation by Molly Morgan, aged 15, led to the school winning a workshop with highly skilled Aardman animators for her entire class.

Molly Morgan’s short animation

Baroness Neville Rolfe, Minister of State for Energy and Intellectual Property, said:

I congratulate the pupils of Bedwas High School for their hard work and imagination and for winning this national competition.

The UK’s creative sector makes a huge contribution to growth and innovation. I have been very impressed with the talent on show and the enthusiasm of the pupils that have taken part.

Merlin Crossingham, Creative Director at Aardman Animations said:

Molly was playful and inventive with Aardman’s own Intellectual Property (IP) taking some of our leading characters and delivering a simple but engaging piece of animation. I appreciate the skill that has gone into this film as animated walks are notoriously tricky to get right. Molly also made good use of the music to punctuate and motivate the action.

Daniel Morgan, Year 11 Progress Manager, Bedwas High School said:

We, at Bedwas High School, were extremely pleased and excited to hear of Molly’s Cracking Ideas competition victory and wish to congratulate her wholeheartedly on such an excellent piece of work. We have been aware of her talents in this area for some time and I was personally thrilled to hear of her winning such a prestigious competition with such an excellent prize attached to it.

Pupils from Bedwas High School

Notes to editors

  1. The IPO is responsible for IP rights in the United Kingdom, including patents, designs, trade marks and copyright.

  2. Aardman, based in Bristol (UK) co-founded and run by Peter Lord and David Sproxton, is a world leader in animation. It produces feature films, series, advertising and digital entertainment for both the domestic and international market. Their multi-award winning productions are novel, entertaining, brilliantly characterised and full of charm that reflects the unique talent, energy and personal commitment of the very special people who make up the Aardman team. The studio’s work is often imitated and yet the company continues to lead the field producing a rare brand of visually stunning and amusing independent and commercial productions www.aardman.com.

Updates to this page

Published 25 November 2016