57 year 2 pupils from Poppleton Road Primary School have recently completed the Key Stage 1 Young Leaders Award (YLA), developing their kindness, perseverance and teamwork.

The YLA offers a unique opportunity to develop leadership skills and character virtues within KS1, whilst challenging pupils to think about the difference they can make in the community around them.

Having worked hard on developing their kindness perseverance and teamwork through the YLA, the Poppleton Road Young Leaders decided to work with local charity, SASH to raise awareness of the issues around youth homelessness. To support the homeless young people near them, the pupils held a collection of items for SASH to hand out to the young people they work with, who are most in need.

Charlotte, a SASH volunteer, visited the Young Leaders at Poppleton Road to teach them about youth homelessness and to collect their donations. During the session, the Young Leaders presented Charlotte with the donations they had been collecting from around the school including toiletries, food and other essentials. Charlotte was blown away by the donations and assured the pupils that the young people SASH work with would be so grateful for their kindness.

These brilliant Young Leaders have learnt what it means to show kindness to those in need, how to persevere in difficult times,the benefits of teamwork and have put those skills into action by supporting their local community.

“The Young Leaders programme really represents our school’s vision and values. The children have gained so much from the award and we know the skills learnt with enhance their lives. The children have gained abetter understanding of what a “community” is and how to treat one another and they are keen to share their knowledge with their peers”

Ellie Dawson, Year 2 Teacher at Poppleton Road Primary School

To find out more about the Young Leaders Award and how to run it in your school, visit abyyt.com/young-leaders-award or contact Rozy Brian on rozy.brain@abyyt.com.

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