By Mrs Bezzer (English Teacher)
Last Wednesday 6th December saw the final celebratory event of this year’s Ready2Lead? Programme. Hosted at Kimberley College, and welcoming students from Sixth Forms all over Bedford Borough, the evening provided much to be proud of and inspired by for the staff and local dignitaries attending. For the students involved in the leadership programme, it was an opportunity to showcase their projects - aimed at improving the local environment for children and young people - and show how they had moved from ideas to reality in the space of a term. For the guests attending, it was an opportunity to be informed and amazed at the scale and scope of the students’ projects.
Amongst the guest list were names such as Mayor Tom Wootton, Laura Church (CEO Bedford Borough Council), High Sheriff Russell Beard, Dr Tanya Richardson (Professor of Education Studies) and Caroline Downing (Head of Education Partnerships at The Harpur Trust). All who attended the event were very impressed with the outstanding work that the students had produced, not to mention the leadership qualities they had so evidently gained along the way.
BGS were pleased to have two groups working on separate projects for this year’s programme. Details of each brief can be found below:
BGS – Tania, Lydia, Koi, Tireni, Ridah & Maham
“We decided to focus on the idea of community, especially for young people, as we believe that it is important to create a space for teens to meet and socialise, while giving back and bringing the community together. We have done this by introducing the Bedford Youth Club which, through events and campaigns, aims to improve the wider community. We have put this idea into action by launching our campaign: “Capturing Kindness”, where the community of Bedford are invited to write a note of positivity to be displayed as part of a collage which reflects the area and its people.”
BGS – Molly, Duneep, Eloise, Mia, Morgan & Erin
“Our idea is an arts and crafts class with 10 year 5 children at Marston Vale primary school. Our group will go to the school with all the resources needed for the activities and we will hold the session in their sports hall. In the session the children will have the opportunity to paint and decorate plant pots, which they will plant seeds in with soil. The children will then be able to take the plants home and will be given a set of simple instructions from us on how to care and grow their plant, as well as why looking after our local environment is so important.”
Following the end of the 2023 programme, I caught up with BGS’s own Koi and Eloise, for some of their Ready2Lead reflections. You can read the Q&A here.
