‘Say Hello’ to creative awareness raising

The First Give programme sees students working through eight weeks’ worth of lesson content before they reach the big celebration at the end: their First Give Final.

In the lead up to this event, students research social issues and identify charities that they’d like to support. Each class works on a series of social action endeavours to support their charities, which can take the form of fundraising, awareness raising, campaigning and volunteering. The Final is a celebratory showcase for the hard work of an entire year group, and an opportunity for the classes to put their best foot forward as they share what the programme has meant to them, and what they’ve achieved. Often, the Final is shrouded in excitement, though with a little trepidation too, as students deliver their First Give presentations to their whole year group, overcoming nerves around public speaking as students develop their presentation and leadership skills through the process.

Year 9 students at Batley Girls’ High School in West Yorkshire have supported nine different charities this year through the First Give programme. Students delivered a series of high-quality presentations at their Final which demonstrated the depth of knowledge and understanding they had for their chosen charities. They explored their various social action activities, demonstrating the scope and scale for social action that is impactful, creative and compassionate, impressing us with their efforts. “They’ve done so well” says Charlotte Dunkley, Lead Teacher at the school “I’m really proud of everything they’ve achieved this year.”

One class, 9JHS, supported Simon on the Streets. The presenters explored and explained the great impact of meeting their charity representative, Andy Sharpe, a Senior Fundraiser for the charity. Andy inspired the students to develop a campaign after he shared with them the relative loneliness of homelessness, and the impact that this could have on someone’s mental health. The students started by conducting research across the teaching staff to assess how friendly teachers find the students. They then chose to run a school campaign, echoing the charity’s own, that encouraged people to say hello to staff and peers in school, seeking to boost staff perceptions of students. Students and staff were encouraged to wear badges that said “Smile & say hello!”. The students put it eloquently in their presentation, adding “kindness starts in school, and it becomes easier to smile and say hello when we’re in the community if we do this”.

Andy, Simon on the Streets, said: “The pupils were very engaging and asked numerous great questions about how they could best support our work at Simon on the Streets through their work with the First Give Programme. It was amazing to hear that, afterwards, the class organised a smile and say hello campaign in school this year. Often, the individuals we support across Leeds and Bradford say they feel invisible, and how a smile and hello from members of the public can often make their day.“

The students conducted further research among their peers, discovering that many of the students in school wanted to make a positive impact to the issue of homelessness locally. Their findings demonstrated students’ sympathy when it came to encountering people rough sleeping, but that they weren’t sure how they could help. This is echoed in wider research around young people wanting to make a difference, but lacking an access point into meaningful community and charity engagement – an access point provided by the First Give programme.

The findings of the students’ research noted that 19% of their peers had avoided engaging with people who are homeless previously, citing feelings of regret that they hadn’t done more at the time, but that they’d not known how to help. Evaluating the impact of their campaign, students asked their peers if they would feel more empowered to greet a person who was homeless after taking part in the “Smile and say hello” campaign. Overwhelmingly, students answered in the affirmative.

“The First Give Programme offers amazing opportunities for pupils to engage with charities across the local area, which is a vital tool within our society moving forward” concluded Andy. Indeed, we couldn’t agree more – well done to the students at Batley Girls’ High School!