Thank you song for the NHS scoops top prize in HEE's schools competition

A 10 year-old pupil from Bury is the overall winner of Health Education England’s (HEE) Step into the NHS competition after wowing judges with his catchy ‘Thank You’ song for the NHS, performed to the tune of the Traditional Wellerman sea shanty song.  

Harry Jamil who attends Bury and Whitefield Jewish Primary School entered HEE’s popular annual competition that aims to inspire young people from primary and secondary schools to consider a career in the NHS and supports pupils into challenging gender stereotypes of NHS roles, such as nursing being a female only profession.    

He beat off stiff competition from 96 primary schools across the country, with a total of 7,800 pupils taking part. 

Winner Harry said:  

 “I really enjoyed taking part because I had lots of fun writing about the different jobs in the NHS; not just the doctors and nurses but all the other important jobs too, like the porters and chefs. This is important because the NHS has really helped us through these hard times and helped us try to get things back to normal."  

Harry’s teacher Chloe Pereira added:   

“As a school, we feel it is important that students understand the wide breadth of jobs available to them and also the many hands that come together to keep people safe within the NHS. I love the resources created and find the whole experience invaluable. Harry has blown us away with his creativity and stunning singing voice. We are all over the moon that his hard work has been so well received.”  

Harry’s video can be found here. 

The secondary school winner is 12 year old Ana Aslam who attends Herschel Grammar School in Slough. Ana amazed the judges with a very creative job advert showcasing the role of biomedical scientist.  Talented Ana also performed a ventriloquist act with Katie, her puppet and created a model of a road-map into the career and interviewed a biomedical scientist at her local trust.

Ana said:   

“I was extremely excited when I found out that I was the Step into the NHS competition’s national winner in 2021, it was unbelievable and the most unforgettable day of my life! I chose the role of biomedical scientist because they are at the heart of medical breakthroughs in healthcare. After a lot of thinking I decided to use my ventriloquism skill with Katie (my puppet) to make my advert as unique and entertaining as possible!”  

Ana’s Teacher Emma Wood said:   

"This is our second year entering the Step into the NHS competition, and it has been a great experience for our pupils. We had twelve brilliant entries in total, of which five were shortlisted! The NHS is so vast, and this competition provides a great opportunity for pupils to learn about the range of jobs within it and showcase their learning in such a creative way. We are so proud of Ana for becoming the national winner, and congratulate all our entrants on their brilliant efforts!”  

Ana’s submission beat entries from 134 secondary schools, with an estimated 18,000 taking part in the competition.

Ana’s winning submission video can be found here.  

Navina Evans, Chief Executive Health Education England said: 

"As the NHS celebrates its 73rd birthday and we thank staff for all their hard work over the last year, it is wonderful that one of the winners is a fantastic thank you to the NHS song. 

I would like to congratulate our two overall winners Harry and Ana and all the students who took part this year. It is fantastic to see so many young people showing an interest in careers in the NHS."

National winners were awarded £50 Amazon gift voucher, certificate and a prize for their class.   

Ten regional winners have been chosen across England for both the primary and secondary school competitions (making 20 winners in total). An overall national winner was chosen for both primary and secondary competitions.  

For more information about the competition visit  www.stepintothenhs.nhs.uk

For more information about a career in the NHS visit www.healthcareers.nhs.uk.   

 Get involved in the NHS Birthday visit www.england.nhs.uk/nhsbirthday/get-involved