05 Aug VIRTUAL SOCIAL ACTION PROJECT A REAL SUCCESS WITH LOCAL HIGH SCHOOLS

The Huddersfield Town Foundation’s Virtual Social Action Project has come to an end, with high school students from across Kirklees taking part!

Launched in April, the project was adapted from its planned format in the Foundation’s Steps to Success programme to allow students to take part remotely.

With the majority of students studying from home, they were tasked with working by themselves or as part of a group to work on a project to the benefit of their local community.

Students gained ownership of their projects from the beginning, as they were able to identify the issue they wanted to address.

They were then provided a toolkit to guide them through the planning process, before thinking specifically about how best to execute their project.

For the Town Foundation’s Head of Secondary Schools Education Sofie Armitage, the aims of the project were clear:

“We wanted to inspire young people to engage positively in both education and their local community.

The project also gave participants the opportunity to improve vital life skills like leadership and communication, both of which will prove invaluable moving forwards”.

Entries received covered a range of important issues, including the setting up and funding of food banks, supporting equality via the Black Lives Matter movement and the third-party breeding of dogs.

Each entrant has now received personalised feedback on their work, and we’d like to thank everybody who took part for their hard work!

The Foundation has also decided to name winners in two categories – one for the ‘Most Committed’ participant, and the other for the best Community Engagement.

Isobel, a Year 9 student at Netherhall Learning Campus, won the ‘Most Committed’ prize for her puppy farming and third-party breeders project as it was clear she had put in the most amount of work.

As well as carrying out in-depth research and surveys, she also interviewed six people within the industry to build her knowledge. The next steps of her project will be to try and raise money to educate people on the issue.

The best Community Engagement was carried out by another Netherhall student, Toby, who focused on providing a shopping service for vulnerable people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Toby interviewed local people to find out what was needed, before planning for potential obstacles like language barriers and having too many people to help. He then created flyers to advertise his service for the elderly and minority ethnic groups.

The winners will receive a squad signed Huddersfield Town shirt and a certificate, which will be presented at an assembly once schools return in September.

On the impact of the project, Lead teacher of PSHCE and Citizenship at NLC Sarah Hymanforth commented:

“At Netherhall Learning Campus we enjoy working with the community and encouraging students to be active, reflective and compassionate citizens. This project with the Town Foundation allowed us over lockdown to continue with our Citizenship education and engage students in conversations about their local area and the improvements they would like to see.

The resources were fantastic and I am very grateful to the team for their enthusiasm in working with our students and hearing their views and ideas. It is vital we listen to each other in order to work towards successful social change and the Foundation offered an opportunity to be heard for our young people”.

The Town Foundation is now recruiting schools to its Steps to Success programme for the upcoming academic year!

Students who are at risk of not fulfilling their potential will receive 1:1 mentoring and small group interventions from one of our mentors, who will work in your school for at least one full day per week.

The aim is to re-engage and motivate said students, with the added opportunity of attending collapsed curriculum days at the John Smith’s Stadium.

If you would like to find out more about this exciting project and whether it would be suitable for your school, please get in touch with Secondary Schools Education Manager Sofie Armitage via Sofie.Armitage@htafcfoundation.com or 07741671071.