Young Leaders from St Oswald’s CE Academy, Finningley, received their Young Leaders Awards last week.

The Year 6 pupils had been working since February on completing the award which saw them build their leadership and character skills, learn about inspirational leaders and complete challenges to help those around them at home, school and in their local community.

In a celebration service at Holy Trinity and St Oswald’s Church the pupils shared their Young Leaders journey with parents and staff.  The pupils had explored lots of potential ideas to help their local community and had decided to organise a project to support the local Trussell Trust Foodbank.

They set out to campaign and raise awareness of the work of the Foodbank and to organise for a collection box to be placed in their school to encourage everyone to donate supplies to help people in their area who use the Foodbank.

The pupils wrote to their Headteacher and school governors and also designed posters to send out to parents and carers to tell them about the new food collection box.  The pupils hope that their campaign will provide ongoing support to the Foodbank

Hannah Redeyoff, Youth and Family Worker at Holy Trinity and St Oswald’s Church, who worked with the pupils on their Award said;

“The pupils loved it, they really engaged well with it and were extremely enthusiastic with many of the children completing numerous challenges at home and bringing in pictures to show us what they had been up to.”

Sharon Patton, Headteacher, said;

“The children have really benefited from the process of undertaking the award. They live lives which are largely caught up with their own activities and interests out of school, but this project has encouraged them to reflect on how they can influence and support the local and wider community. This has filtered across school as other year groups are also starting to think about how they can get involved in supporting a wider network of groups/individuals.”