12 Year 6 Pupils at St John with St Michael CE Primary School have just completed their KS2 Young Leaders Award.
As part of the award children are challenged to complete personal challenges to help others in small ways, school challenges to practice their leadership skills and a community project to support their local area. Although pupils carried out most of their social action before Covid-19, many children continued to ‘be the change’ they wanted to see during the crisis, putting their learning into action by supporting their local community through small acts of kindness.
For their personal challenges, pupils carried out a range of tasks from dog walking, litter picking and gardening to making tea, washing up, baking for friends and donating items for a jumble sale.
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To take action in their school, Year 6 pupils helped run a book swap for World Book Day with Year 1 and 2 children and also took on roles such as ‘Playground Leader’ to encourage friendships and playtime games like skipping and hop scotch. They also helped to organise Number Day raising £180 for the NSPCC.
For their community action project, children wrote letters to their local council about litter and made soup to be distributed by a local homeless charity, ‘Rochdale Homeless’, every week for 6 weeks. They introduced the charity to the rest of the school an assembly, invited the ladies who run the soup kitchen into school to talk to the children, and also set up a collection point for people to donate toiletries.
"I have really liked getting soup to the homeless people, it made me feel happy knowing that they will be able to have a meal"
Imohjen Year 6 pupil
Headteacher Mrs Garner said:
"I know the year 6 children really felt that this empowered them to use their voice and also encouraged them to take part in something that they would not have usually done”
Ruth Le Breton, Assistant Director of the Young Leaders Award, said:
"I'm hugely inspired by the efforts from these Young Leaders! It's wonderful to see that the restrictions of lockdown has not stopped these pupils showing kindness in safe ways in their communities. Well done Young Leaders, we can't wait to see what you do next."
Year 5 Young Leaders at Witton Church Walk Church of England Nursery and Primary School decided they wanted to raise awareness of asylum seekers and homeless people in their local area.
Courageous advocacy and enabling pupils to be active ‘agents of change’ is at the heart of St Thomas Cantilupe Church of England Primary’s vision for their students.
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Year 4 pupils at St Thomas' CofE Primary School spent a week learning about the North Kensington Community Kitchen for their Archbishops’ Young Leaders Award.
