Our most important work
Youth champions
When a child is being bullied, who do they actually tell? We asked Lancaster University to help us find out. The answer was not adults.
85%
of children wouldn’t tell a parent or a teacher. They’d tell a classmate.
Survey of 400 schools, conducted with Lancaster University.
What we give schools
How it works
So we work with the classmates
Every school we partner with appoints a youth champion. They wear a yellow t-shirt and a yellow badge, so any child can pick them out across a playground without having to ask.
Children tell them what’s going on, quietly and without a fuss. The champion passes it on to us, and we work with the school on what happens next.
They’re our eyes and ears inside the school — but more importantly, they’re the person a child was going to talk to anyway.
Pupils decide
They choose what their school needs
We don't turn up and tell a school what it's short of. The champions decide, and we fund what they ask for.
A buddy bench
Somewhere to sit when you've nobody to sit with, and a signal to everyone else that you'd like company. It does a lot of work for a bench.
A large planter
Something a group can plant and look after together, which turns out to be a good way to get children talking sideways rather than face-on.
A bird feeder
Small, calm, and something to watch when you need a minute away from it all.
It varies by school, which is rather the point. Children know what’s missing.
Noticing the good
The kindness post box
Every school we work with gets a post box.
We supply postcards. Children write down something kind they’ve seen someone do — not something they did themselves, something they noticed — and post it.
Whoever gets nominated receives a gift and a certificate with Nic on it.
For schools
Bring youth champions to your school
If you're a school on the Fylde coast and you'd like to appoint youth champions, get in touch. There's no cost.
We’ll talk you through how it works, supply the t-shirts, badges, post box and postcards, and work with your champions on what your school needs.
We also help with the practical things — including school uniforms for families who can’t stretch to them.
