Teenagers tackling anti-social behaviour in Salford have earned their school £1,500 to help pay for playground equipment and are looking forward to a day out at the Lowry Theatre as an extra reward.
Salford City Council invited schools to take part in a competition which would help pupils explore the issues around anti-social behaviour – and what the city council and community was doing to address it.
The entry from Oakwood High Special School used the journalistic skills of Year Nine students to produce a special-edition newsletter.
Working across the curriculum with English and media teacher Jay Cahill and citizenship co-ordinator and deputy head Sue Perkin, the pupils interviewed community workers and a council solicitor, looked at why teenagers joined gangs and explored the reasons why youngsters might be tempted by drugs, alcohol and smoking.
Officers from the council’s Community Safety Unit visited the school to give a talk and the pupils even carried out a mini-survey of adults, which found that teenagers in their street were mostly well-behaved.
Money for the prize came from the Improvement and Development Agency, a local authority organisation which seeks to encourage best-practice initiatives in councils.
Sue Perkin said: “The school is part of the community and the pupils found it a great exercise to learn how the community viewed teenagers and dealt with difficult issues. ”We were delighted to win and are looking forward to putting the prize money to good use.”
Their day at the Lowry will give pupils the chance to look at creative career choices and to look behind the scenes of the theatre, learning about script-writing, theatrical make-up, architecture, dance and photography, she added. The council’s lead member for community safety, and one of the competition judges, Cllr David Lancaster, added:
“Today’s schoolchildren are tomorrow’s citizens and we wanted to find a way of engaging teenagers on an important issue for us all. ”The standard of entry was very high and we were delighted with the response from our schools. We faced a difficult decision but Oakwood High were worthy winners for all the effort the school had put in.”
View a photograph of the competition winners.
