A tidy effort for St James Church of England Primary School as they become Changemakers

Pupils from St James Church of England Primary School have been making a real difference when it comes to litter picking in their community and were recently presented with a Changemaker Student Award from the University of Northampton.

As part of its mission to transform lives and inspire change, the University launched the Changemaker Student Awards to recognise, support and celebrate young ambassadors in making innovative and positive change in their school environment and local community. As a ‘Changemaker Campus’, designated by Ashoka U – a title given only to leading institutions in social innovation education – the University has placed four challenges at the centre of its strategic plan that will take it to 2020. One of these challenges is to make Northamptonshire the best county in the UK for children and young people to flourish and learn.

For their challenge, the 10 Year 5 school pupils focused on the issue of litter in their community and worked with local councillor, Rufia Ashraf and local shopkeepers to create a poster campaign and regular litter picks to make the area tidier.

The team, made up of Harvey Jones, Dawson Newton, Jayden Britten, Andy Kwakye, Yusuf Ali, Caitlin Scott, Morgan Wooff, Jade Byrnes, Olivia Makuba and Nuha Choudhury were presented with a Ruby Changemaker Student Award, which is the first of three progressive levels, followed by Emerald and Sapphire. Each award has been designed to provide a flexible and interactive pathway for groups of young people to plan, develop, initiate and support positive change within their community.

Wray Irwin, Head of the University of Northampton’s Centre for Employability and Engagement (UCEE) said:  ‘We are delighted to support and celebrate children being Changemakers through our awards programme within the University’s Changemaker Challenges.  These young ambassadors showed immense commitment, drive and energy and we are delighted to recognise that commitment through our Changemaker Award.

Councillor Ashraf commented “As the Borough Councillor of St James, I wish to empower young people to look after their environment and work with me in their locality.  I was delighted to know that pupils from St James Church of England Primary School were receiving the Ruby Changemaker Award from University of Northampton”.

Deputy Head, Jude Busari commented “We were very proud to be recognised for our work in the St James community.  The children really enjoyed the afternoon and were made to feel like real superstars as we celebrated their achievements.”