North Ayrshire’s Commonwealth Baton relay now underway

North Ayrshire Active Schools had an exciting start to November with the official launch of North Ayrshire’s Commonwealth Baton Relay now officially underway.

Starting out at Springside Primary then Dreghorn, the baton will spend the next few weeks travelling around Greenwood and Irvine Royal cluster schools before progressing to other schools across the local authority.

The Commonwealth Games return to Glasgow in 2026, from July 23rd until August 2nd and the multi-sport event is a highlight for athletes of the Commonwealth Nations. North Ayrshire’s baton was specially designed by S2 pupil Sam from Arran High School and S1 pupil Kaitlyn from Ardrossan Academy (pictured in bottom corner of header photo collage), whose creativity helped to bring the baton from sketches in art class to real life.

It pays homage to the King’s Baton Relay, a Commonwealth Games tradition that is currently underway on an epic journey from Buckingham Palace to across the world, with batons visiting all 74 nations and territories of the Commonwealth. Find out more about the significance of the King’s Baton Relay on the Commonwealth Games website.

Inspired by the Commonwealth baton, the colourful 3D-printed baton that is currently touring North Ayrshire features a distinctive design with decorative spheres at the top. Each sphere is stamped with icons of the ten sports that will be competing in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2026 – basketball, gymnastics, athletics, bowls, boxing, cycling, judo, netball, swimming and weightlifting.

Kaitlyn from Ardrossan who came up with the bubble effect of the spheres said: “Funnily enough a can of my favourite bright orange Scottish fizzy juice gave me the idea for the design. It’s amazing seeing it come to life. I play pro youth football with Kilmarnock Football Club but never thought I could be on the design side of sport too so it makes me feel really good knowing that so many other pupils are going to see what I have created off the pitch.”

Sam from Arran High School shared: “It was so fun to visit the mainland to get the baton 3D-printed and I was excited to be the one to hit the go button to make our first prototype. I really enjoyed the behind-the-scenes of taking our drawings and making them into something real that we could proudly hold in our own hands.”

Springside Primary School were the first to have a sneak peek of the baton up close at their launch event earlier last week. The opening ceremony invited winner Kaitlyn alongside Active Schools volunteers from North Ayrshire Sports Academy (NASA) and the team mascots Improving Izzy and Moving Max to host a special morning assembly on Monday 3 November.

Springside pupils heard all about the prestigious history of the Commonwealth Games and what’s to come in 2026 before being tasked with a series of challenges including gymnastics and circuits apparatus in the gym hall, basketball outdoors and a mascot t-shirt drawing competition.

Headteacher of Springside Primary, Lynsey Boyes added: “Thank you to North Ayrshire Active Schools on an energising start to our school week. We are incredibly proud to have been one of the first primary schools to see the baton up close and there was a such a buzz of excitement throughout the school from all.

“The pupils are very much looking forward to collaborating with Active Schools in the near future on sport opportunities that remind us of the Commonwealth Games and help us to seek out the talent in our own school who are the future of athletics and other sports in North Ayrshire.”

North Ayrshire Active Schools would also like to extend a special thanks to the team at Caley Youth Centre in Ardeer where the baton was 3D printed with the help of the youth workers from the council’s Community Learning and Development team.

Published: 13 November 2025