Thoughtful pupils from Westview Primary School have today taken it upon themselves to clean up the Brus Beach. The pupils are currently taking part in the Archbishop of York Young Leaders Award which encourages children to ‘be the change they want to see’ and change the world for the better! Brus beach is a favourite place for children and families to play in the summer season and the pupils wanted to make it a clean and safe environment for all to enjoy. The pupils got in touch with Hartlepool Borough Council to raise awareness of the litter situation and they have provided all of the equipment the pupils needed to complete the clean-up including bringing the refuse collection team to take away the rubbish afterwards!

Miss Wise, the Year 4 class teacher said "The children's enthusiasm and passion for helping their local community has been quite inspiring. They have developed their leadership skills and have really been able to apply these to planning our Young Leader's Challenges. They are keen to raise awareness of their project through school assembly in order to encourage others within school to help improve their local community and have even created a competition to promote engagement. We are really proud of the work they have done and I look forward to seeing the positive impact of their work!"

Susan McBride, Neighbourhood Development Officer at Hartlepool Borough Council said “Working with the Children has been an absolute pleasure, they were very clear about their aims and objectives for the project and worked extremely well together to decide how they would achieve their goals. Together we explored how long different types of litter stay around and the effects it can have on the environment and our wildlife. Hartlepool Borough Council will continue to support this excellent project.”

To date the Youth Trust have enrolled 328 Primary and Secondary schools to the Young Leaders Awards, empowering some 34,600 young people to put leadership into action and make a difference in other people’s lives through acts of service and community volunteering.