This morning, 86 Year 7 pupils from St Olave’s School York headed into the City of York to complete a ‘Random Act of Kindness’ community challenge as part of their Archbishop of York’s Young Leaders Award.

From 9.30am to 10.15am, the Year 7 group from St Olave’s, dressed in their blue school blazers, were at York Minster, at York Rail Station, and in St Helen’s Square where they handed out hand-made paper flowers, along with Easter eggs that they have purchased with own pocket-money or from fundraising activities, giving these to members of the public.

Headmaster, Andy Falconer at St Olave’s said:

‍“Happiness is contagious! The Year 7 pupils wanted to do something for their Young Leaders Award that would hopefully make people smile, feel special and spread some happiness. We spend a lot of time within school encouraging and modelling kindness, and the strapline of the award, ‘Be the change you want to see’, has encouraged our 12 year olds to want to make change outside of the school. It’s very empowering for the children to see that they can make a difference in an adult’s life, even just for a brief moment, by spreading some happiness in a surprising way.”

Dan Finn, Director of the Youth Trust joined the pupils on the day for their community challenge;

"It was inspiring to see these young people full of confidence and interacting with members of the public today. Their acts of kindness were infectious and I saw so many people with smiles on their faces as they met and chatted with the students. Well done to all of Year 7 at St Olave's School, you were amazing and have 'been the change you wanted to see'!"