Chew Valley School began Learn to lead over 5 years ago, and as the link teacher states: “It has completely changed the way our school is run. Learn to Lead has transformed the school in a way that I never thought possible. It has been an absolute privilege to witness such incredible transformations in students as individuals that will serve them for the rest of their lives.”
Achievements from a wide range of project teams, include:
• Changed the food in the bistro
• Developing a recycling policy
• Raised over £15,000 for different charities
• Plans implemented to refurbish the boys’ toilets
• Made the library a nicer environment
• Reduced energy consumption of the schoo
• Planned events in school – healthy eating, cake sales, staff decathlon, energy week
• Installed a poly tunnel and sold vegetables to staff and local shop
• Built a woodland walk in the grounds
• Established a reading support programme for years 7 and 8
Youth Involvement Group
This team is a wonderful demonstration of the power of the Learn to lead process. The group was founded to raise awareness of violence against women and girls in schools in the area. So far they have: made a Violence Against Women and Girls pack and used it to improve PSHE lessons; run workshops in other schools in the local authority area; created a ‘Safe and equal’ gauge; and run Sexual bullying campaigns, an Anti-Bullying week and a Stonewall Campaign. They are now working on anti-homophobic and anti-cyber bullying campaigns as well as developing a survey.
Student view
“Learn to lead has had a huge impact on me because it’s made me change from the inside and made me learn more, I wouldn’t of cared before. Being a part of the healthy eating team has actually made me eat healthily. It’s also been good going on trips to other schools and comparing our food systems to theirs.”