Pupils at Norton Hill school are seizing the opportunity to make positive changes, thanks to a Radstock & Westfield Big Local funded project.

With a strong interest in health, gender, leadership and environmental issues, pupils involved in the project will learn how to develop groups, find funding, and utilise resources to turn their creative ideas into reality.

With support from Learn to Lead, an organisation that specialises in helping young people take responsibility and ownership of the things that matter to them, pupils and staff recently engaged in training over a couple of days to learn the empowerment process and choose the topics they want to deliver results on.

After much fun and focused reflection, they decided to concentrate on improving environmental sustainability within the school, celebrating diversity, and ensuring pupils are supported to take care of their mental health.

Pupil, Edith Needs, commented: “I am here because I would like to make the school a safer, cleaner, greener and more diverse place for learning. I want to develop awareness within the school around environmental issues: using less single use plastics and more reusable energy.”

This project came about after a youth consultation, which Radstock & Westfield Big Local co-funded, highlighted that many young people wanted to have more of a say and be supported to take action in their community. The Big Local had been searching for a way to support their ambition and were very pleased when they heard about Learn to Lead, who had received a glowing report from B&NES Carers’ Centre for the work they did with young carers.

Big Local Chair, Robin Moss, said: “This is funding to help young people make positive changes in their communities. It will help develop their skills, which in turn, will help with health and wellbeing. We hope that this money will plant some seeds to grow into great projects that make a real difference.”

Norton Hill School are committed to supporting their pupils to develop their skills and interests, and were active in discussions following the consultation, looking for opportunities for their young people. After some exploratory sessions with Big Local and Learn to Lead in 2020 they were looking forward to launching the project, only for Covid-19 to bring it to a halt before it could even start. Finally, this project can now go ahead and there is much confidence that it will serve to highlight what young people can do when given the opportunity, skills and resources.

Assistant Head, Wayne Davis, said: “At Norton Hill we take great pride in developing individual character. We have seven character strengths that underpin the ethos of the school and we continually strive to develop these characteristics, both inside and outside the classroom.

“Our aim is to ensure that pupils progress into respectful, determined, optimistic and curious individuals who are focused on realising and achieving their potential. We want to equip our pupils with the necessary skills to be successful in a rapidly changing world through a challenging and aspirational pastoral programme.

“The Learn to Lead programme was a great initiative that will enable the pupils to develop these skills whilst leading and making a difference to the school in an area that they are passionate about.

“We plan to start with a few groups, focussing on Mental Health, the Environment and LGBTQ+ and then intend to roll out more teams in the new academic year.

Find out how Big Local are supporting the community and how you can get involved – www.radstockwestfield.org.uk / @RandWBigLocal