Leadership and service were on the agenda as Starbank School’s secondary pupils raised money for charity, while learning valuable lessons on tackling hate in the community.
The Birmingham school hosted a Leadership Day at its Hob Moor Road site, which began with all pupils in Years 7 and 10 engaging in a sponsored walk around the school grounds.
For a £1 contribution, pupils were able to wear trainers for the day and completed as many laps of the school’s field as possible with every pupils completing a minimum distance of one mile.
This supported the school’s contribution towards to the 70,000 Star Hours of Impact drive, in honour of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, and also raised over £600 to the Commonwealth Trust, which provides funding and to young leaders who are looking to affect positive social change.
This theme of social action was complemented on the day as all pupils also received an inspiring keynote speech from youth worker Hezron Brown, who went from a life of gang crime to a Pride of Britain winner.
Hezron, a previous winner of The Prince’s Trust Young Achiever Award, was drawn into gang violence as a teenager and, after facing up to 10 years in jail, turned his life around and now works to deter other young people from following his early path through his ‘More Talk, More Action’ project.
At the presentation, pupils heard Hezron’s experiences as he shared both his mental and physical scars he received during his youth. He also discussed a range of topics such as knife crime, educational reflections, resilience and the pitfalls of peer pressure and social media.