[flickr id=”10965227123″ thumbnail=”medium_640″ overlay=”true” size=”medium_640″ group=”” align=”none”] We’re always very excited about working with other organisations. This time around, we were asked to develop a new innovative service for Wapping High School to support their new year 7 pupils adjust to life in their new secondary school.

We’ve worked with Wapping High School before so were looking forward to the task ahead. Over a two day period we worked with all of their new year 7 students in small creative workshops. Each day involved four separate sessions and then a final session at the end of the day to bring all the students from that days’ workshops together.

The programme built on our previous experience of supporting young people through times of transition and focussed on the school ethos of every student being able to take their own responsibility.

The interactive sessions helped the pupils to gain confidence, learn new skills and find out more about one another as they shared their hopes and fears about life in their new school.  This helped diminish some of the common fears of getting lost or being bullied as well and gain strength through the shared aspirations and hopes of getting good grades to help them in their future lives.

We asked them what they thought about their sessions, some of the comments were:

‘How to tell people about your problems and who to tell’

‘It is fun and you can express yourself’

‘That anyone can help you academically as well as socially’

‘I understand my hopes and fears more’

‘Working as a team in life is important’

The programme ended with each young person writing something that they could offer the school and something that they would like to achieve on a single leaf that all came together to make one big Giving Tree.