This year, students formed a Mental Health Action Team with the support of Michael, our school chaplain, and leaders at Tyne & Wear Citizens. Students have also been busy campaigning on other issues, including Racial Justice in Education. It has been a very busy term, and here are just some snippets of the work we have achieved this year!
MAYORAL ASSEMBLY
Students from the Mental Health Action Teams were given the opportunity to attend pre-meetings with 5 out of the 6 Mayoral Candidates for the recent North East Combined Authority election. Students were there to ask the candidates to commit to funding a pilot programme for school-based counsellors.
On Monday April 22nd, the candidates were all invited to the Tyne Theatre & Opera House to participate in the Tyne & Wear Citizens Mayoral Assembly. Many of our students had prominent roles: Sheila Hassanpour was a fantastic timekeeper for the event, students in KS3 sang in the Community Choir led by Mrs Gleeson, and of course, many of our students were involved in the presentation on schools-based counselling. On the night, despite some of the candidates not agreeing to fund a SBC pilot, all 5 who were present committed to doing so if they were elected.
Rachel Bennett, Year 12, said, “Getting to be involved in Citizens was truly life-changing. Being able to help make change on issues that affect me or people I know, truly empowers me. It made me realise my voice does matter and that change is possible.”
MEETING THE NEWLY ELECTED NORTH EAST MAYOR, MAYOR KIM MCGUINNESS
Since the election, leaders within Tyne & Wear Citizens, including two of our students Grace Hogan and Izzy Dutton, met with Mayor Kim McGuinness to follow up on the promises she made at the Assembly. Ms McGuinness was very pleased to receive a report detailing the costings of school-based counselling, and she was very supportive of a future pilot of school-based counselling across the region.
MEETING SIR ALAN CAMPBELL, CHIEF WHIP OF THE LABOUR PARTY
As soon as the General Election was announced, we readied ourselves to organise a meeting with Labour candidate Sir Alan Campbell. One of our Year 8 students, Brooke, shared passionate testimony and inspired a room full of local people from St Cuthbert’s Parish, St Cuthbert’s Primary School and the local Parent Action group, Mumspace.
Brooke Buglass, Year 8, said, “It was fun to practise our speech in the chapel with Grace Hogan in Year 12; I had a lot to read, even more than Grace! I wasn’t sure if I could do it but Grace kindly said that she would step in if need be. That made me feel better because I was nervous talking in front of important people in government who have power. However, on the day I managed to do the whole thing so I was really proud of myself.”
“I really enjoyed it because it was fun meeting new people such as Ali Hain the timekeeper, Emma Peacock the chair, Wendy McConnell from the Mumspace project and it was nice to see Father Chris Hughes again.”
“My testimony had such a big impact on Sir Alan that he shared some of his own personal story too. He pledged that, if the Labour Party was elected on the 4th of July, 2024 which has happened, they would ensure that every school will have Mental Health Professionals.”
“The primary school children from St Cuthbert’s were there too and spoke really well about climate change and refugees. They did a little dance which was fun too. It was all worthwhile and, when we got back to school, the office monitors welcomed us with sweets and flowers, which made me feel important.”
Grace Hogan said, “Meeting Kim McGuinness and Alan Campbell was a great opportunity to continue advocating, as well as helping improve my confidence and making me feel like I was making a difference. Both meetings went very well and helped move forward our campaign.”
MEETING THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, ANGELA RAYNER
CITIZENS UK GENERAL ELECTION ASSEMBLY
Much like our local Mayoral Assembly, Citizens UK leaders from across the 18 chapters, organised and co-led an Assembly at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster just three days before the General Election. Fourteen of our students travelled to London to attend, including Sheila, who was invited to keep time on this national assembly and Rachel Bennett, who shared her personal story in front of 2,000 members of the Citizens chapters from across the country. Present at the Assembly were the now Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, as well as Conservative candidate Sara Gezdari and Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, Lord Newby.
Semira Kilic, Year 12, said, “Attending the General Election Assembly was such an amazing opportunity and left me feeling hopeful that our concerns had been heard and acknowledged by the people with power.”
MEETING THE CARDINAL, VINCENT NICHOLS
CALLED TO ACTION EVENT
A day after the General Election Assembly, students co-chaired an event called Called to Action: Catholic Social Teaching and Community Organising in Schools and Colleges. On the day, we launched a new toolkit to help Catholic schools campaign on their own issues, as well as having a space to present the story of the Fair Fares campaign – a campaign run by previous Sixth Form students which resulted in £1 bus fares for 22,000 young people across the region.
The event was opened and blessed by Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the most senior ranking member of the Catholic Church in our country. He was incredibly supportive of our work, and wanted to encourage other young people in schools to explore community organising because it really can help change the society in which we live! We also got a chance to give Cardinal Nichols a letter addressed to Pope Francis, asking whether we could go to Rome to meet with him and share our stories there.
Maddy Sarin in Year 12 said, “The Cardinal Nichols event was surprisingly inspiring; I enjoyed playing a part in it. I loved the whole trip to London; it felt like we really bonded as a group, I learnt loads and it was really fun!” Semira said, “The event with Cardinal Nichols was spiritually enriching and made me feel like we had made a difference.”
MEETING BARONESS DOREEN LAWRENCE, MOTHER OF STEPHEN LAWRENCE AND RACIAL JUSTICE CAMPAIGNER
ALL-PARTY PARLIAMENTARY GROUP
Kaila Sadiq, Semira Kilic and Izzy Dutton, all Year 12, have also been leading on regional and national work around Racial Justice in Education. These students chair the National Young Persons’ Action Team and have recently attended the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Show Racism the Red Card. This meeting was a huge experience for them as there were some high-profile names in the room including Doreen Lawrence and of course students from across Citizens UK chapters from all over the UK.
