Sheffield primary school pupil wins knife crime awareness competition

Amayah Asad, 11, from Abbeyfield Primary Academy, in Burngreave, designed an anti-knife crime poster for the competition run by police as part of Operation Sceptre, a national operation aimed at reducing knife crime and the number of families affected by it.

For the competition, the Year 6 children who chose to take part were tasked with creating a colourful and eye-catching piece of artwork to feature during the police campaign, in a bid to get schoolchildren involved and raise awareness of the growing issue from a young age.

In her poster, Amayah called those who carry knives ‘cowards’ and urged them to say no to knives.

Deputy headteacher Kate Abell said: “We were delighted to welcome South Yorkshire Police officers Inspector Gary Bramhall and Superintendent Delphine Waring to Abbeyfield. They came to school with our own PCSOs, Deborah Parker and Sarah Needham, to announce the winner of the Knife Crime Poster competition run by South Yorkshire Police as part of Operation Sceptre.

“Students from several schools entered the competition, and we are very proud of Year 6 student Amayah Asad who received a certificate and prize as the overall winner. The judges said that Amayah's entry was "a clear winner" and "leapt out at them". Elements from her winning poster will be used in future anti-knife crime campaigns for South Yorkshire Police.”

PCSO Sarah Needham organised the competition for two schools in Burngreave: Byron Wood, on Earldom Road and Abbeyfield, on Orphanage Road.

Students from both schools were also given a presentation by police in which they were taught about the reality of knife crime highlighting the dangers and potentially devastating consequences of carrying a knife.

During the presentation they were also educated on the penalties you could face if caught carrying a knife among other key information.

Speaking about Amayah’s winning entry, Inspector Gary Bramall said: “The girl’s entry was outstanding. It contained great artwork and key anti-knife crime messages. She had clearly devoted a lot of time and energy to producing the poster.”