A combination of great imagination, creative skills and careful guidance has earned four Summerhill Nursery learners Junior Diplomas at the National Eisteddfod of South Africa 2026. Amaan Naidoo, Sanjana Jugmohan, Chael Chetty and Iyana Dlali received awards for their creative art pieces in the Fine Arts Mixed Media categories for Grade R and pre-school children aged five years and under.
Introducing Our STARS
Summerhill created the STARS programme — Spotlighting Talent and Rising Stars — to complement our STEPS programme, which focuses on sporting talent. STARS celebrates the creativity and talents of learners such as these young artists.
The adjudicators took notice of excellent form, use of colour and line, and commented that the pieces were stunning overall. The National Eisteddfod of South Africa is an annual cultural and arts festival managed by the National Eisteddfod Academy, a non-profit company established in 1997. Their mission is to develop youth talent, build self-confidence, and foster Ubuntu through the performing and visual arts.
Amaan Naidoo: Rainbow Flowers and a Busy Bee
Amaan Naidoo says his favourite colour is purple, but he used all the colours of the rainbow because he loves rainbow colours.
“I drew circles and made petals to do the flowers. I also made a bee who is collecting nectar from the flowers.”
Iyana Dlali: An Underwater Imagination
“The idea to draw fish just came from my mind because I like fish.”
Iyana explained that the big fish is eating the small fish and they are both in her favourite colours, orange and red.
Sanjana Jugmohan: A Bird Inspired by Moana
Sanjana Jugmohan was inspired by seeing baby chicks in Mrs Toet's office.
“My teacher taught us about birds, and I like Moana, so I drew the bird from Moana. The bird has eggs next to it.”
Chael Chetty: Mountains Made from Torn Paper
Chael said he thought about volcanoes when he created his picture of the mountains, and about how lava explodes out of a mountain and creates magma.
“I used coloured paper and tore them and stuck them on to make the mountains and I won.”
More Creativity to Come
The young artists were excited about their creations and happy to share what inspires them. They spend much of their free time colouring and creating artwork. We expect to see them in many more Eisteddfods to come.
Congratulations to Amaan, Iyana, Sanjana and Chael — our Nursery STARS!