News from Mr Grady
Thursday 16th April 2026
Hello everyone,
Welcome back to school for the last term of the academic year. I do hope you had a restful and relaxing break.
I’m having to write this a little belatedly, as due to staff illness, we didn’t share this before the Easter break.
In the penultimate week of last term, the student Team Leaders of Rugby High School’s entry, to the National Crimebeat awards, Project Prevent, attended the Awards Ceremony at The Royal National Hotel in London.
The National Crimebeat Awards celebrates and rewards youth-led projects that seek to reduce the incidence of crime and support victims of crime in the communities across England and Wales. This is a project that has been driven by our students from its first inspiration in workshops over 18 months ago, following our successful entry into the Young High Sherriff Competition. A whole host of our students from years 7 to 13 took part in workshops to address local crime concerns, and over weeks and months, their work developed into “Project Prevent.”
In order to make the project a successful one, Rugby High’s students worked in partnership with the High Sheriff of Warwickshire to create their project, after it was identified that crimes that most concerned them were assault, grooming and harassment. These concerns were raised by our students, who then reached out for specialist support and sought collaborative partnerships with Warwickshire Police, Safeline, Rugby Borough Council and G-Force (a self-defence team).
Project Prevent combines peer-to-peer education, professional expertise and practical safety tools, and by the time it has run its course will have been in schools across Warwickshire, reaching over 3500 students. A superb achievement.
Not only this, but the project was entered into the National Crimebeat competition where other youth-led projects across England compete for prizes and, of course, recognition on the National Stage.
When they attended the awards ceremony, our students discovered they had been awarded the Silver medal!
At the Awards the students showcased their school, the county of Warwickshire and themselves in the most positive of lights. They delivered a professional presentation and the audience were very impressed with their project. In attendance with them, were dignitaries of Warwickshire, Mrs Grimes and Mr Reaney (our Chair of Governors)
Karen Lynch MBE, High Sheriff of Warwickshire, said: “Reaching a national final with a project of this calibre is an outstanding achievement. These young women have not only excelled on a national stage, but have delivered meaningful, preventative work across Rugby Borough to tackle assault, grooming and harassment. As High Sheriff, my role is rooted in supporting law and order, and crucially in preventing crime - and this is exactly what we are seeing here: intelligent, professional action that will help make communities safer.”
Simon Miesegaes DL, Chair of Warwickshire Crimebeat, commented: “It is a delight to have the Young High Sheriff competition and workshops under the banner of Warwickshire Crimebeat - we always knew that Project Prevent and the team from Rugby High School had something special - but to come second behind Greater London in the National Crimebeat Finals is a simply wonderful achievement.”
As ever, for us at RHS - this is a real team effort - although only 4 students could attend the final awards ceremony, it was the work of hundreds of our students across years 7-13 that got us to this prestigious point. Their drive, their initiative and their passion for the project is what came across so strongly to the judges, and results in their leaving a lasting legacy in their community for their peers. We could not be prouder!
Until next time, stay safe and well everyone!
Best wishes,
Mr Grady
