Year 4 pupils from Hatfield Woodhouse Primary School who have been taking part in the Young Leaders Award yesterday hosted an Easter concert and afternoon tea for members of their community.

The event was organised by the pupils themselves after they observed that there were not many places in their area for people, particularly older members of the community, to come together.  They wanted to provide a place for people to meet together and be entertained, and so decided on a performance of ‘Roll away the stone’, which tells the story of Easter, along with an afternoon tea.

The pupils worked incredibly hard to prepare both the performance and the refreshments.  They sent out invitations, created menus, baked cakes and organised a raffle in aid of a local Care Home.  Not to mention, practising their concert to an incredibly high standard!

Throughout the Young Leaders Award they also completed many personal challenges to help others. Back in December one pupil, Obie, decided to write to all the parents from the school and ask for donations of advent calendars to give to a woman’s refuge.  He collected an amazing 69 calendars!  Grayson collected toys to donate to the local children’s ward and Emily collected Easter Eggs to give to the local Foodbank.  These are just a few of many challenges completed by the class.

Helen Acton, Head teacher at Hatfield Woodhouse, said:

“It has been a real privilege and joy to watch how our Year 4 class have grown and developed into more responsible and empathetic young people through participating in the Young Leaders course. They astounded me with the work they have done to make the community a better place to live - taking action where adults have sometimes procrastinated or sat back and ignored issues. In the classroom, they understand the importance of working together, trusting each other and listening. They have really looked forward to doing the Young Leader lessons.”

Two pupils, Lydia and Emily, had also written to their local MP Caroline Flint sharing their concerns about traffic and pedestrian crossings in their area.  They were thrilled to receive replies to their letters and also that Caroline Flint was able to attend their community event!

Caroline Flint, MP for Don Valley, said:

“The children, not only with the show they have put on today but in all the other things they have been doing to support their community, to raise funds for different projects they feel passionate about, have shown initiative.  Two of the pupils wrote to me about some of their concerns in the community and I was really pleased to be able to write back to them. Leadership is also about working with others too, we saw some fantastic individual performances today, but the reason why the show worked was because they were all really working as a team together. The confidence, and the resilience they have shown today has been absolutely marvellous.  I’m so pleased that this project, that the Archbishop of York is supporting, is working wonders in a school in my constituency, Don Valley.”

To date the Youth Trust have enrolled over 440 Primary and Secondary schools to the Young Leaders Awards, empowering some 50,000 young people to put leadership into action and make a difference in other people's lives through acts of service and community volunteering.