Gallery: Students at Neale-Wade Academy hold community music festival to inspire others to become ‘Agents of Change’
Year 10 students at Neale-Wade Academy organised a school music festival, aimed at changing the perception the community has of young people in March.
As Agents of Change, these twenty-eight students have been tasked with challenging and contradicting the view that young people do not have the drive and ambition to transform their local community for the better.
The students were previously involved in a project funded by the charitable foundation, Clarion Futures, and Powerful Histories, where they looked at promoting March by creating a series of videos for Fenland District Council targetting March as a destination for 18–24-Year-olds.
It was through producing these videos the students became aware of how their own school community had become disunited as a result of Covid-19 and a disruption to learning.
They decided to take matters into their own hands to make a real difference by uniting the school again and showing the community the change they are capable of doing.
As part of this initiative, the students supported by Paul Fowler, head of humanities, organised a music festival titled ‘Now We are 1’ to demonstrate what the students of Neale-Wade Academy can achieve together.
To fund the event, they helped raise over £3,000 to ensure the festival was free to all pupils and managed to book performances by MC Hammersmith, Toxic Blondes and Amy True. There were also concession stands, inflatables, sports competitions, a Tik Tok tent with Tesco’s sponsorship, a photo booth with the local Youth Advisory body to support research into the needs of the student committee. The local fire service and police service were also in attendance.
Students also managed to persuade March-based 20/20 productions to provide a stage and sound system free of charge, with other pupils at the school involved in creating a village fete as part of the festival to raise money for charities such as the Leukaemia Trust.
Graham Horn, principal, said: “We are so proud of our students at Neale- Wade Academy for using their own initiative and taking great pride in their local community by promoting the history and culture of March.
“I would like to extend my gratitude to our staff, the local community and particularly our Agents of Change students for all their efforts in making the festival a success - from organising the activities, performances and fundraising initiatives, to working hard to ensure everyone had a brilliant time.
“Thank you to We Organise Chaos, Clarion Futures, the Fenland DC and Powerful Histories who have supported our students every step of the way to become such excellent Agents of Change. Not only did our students organise an event for such a worthwhile cause, but it provided them with a platform in Event Management, such as how to manage travel flows, programming and booking providers, which are all excellent employability skills for the future.
“They are all extremely grateful for the opportunity to prove themselves as leaders in the community and I look forward to seeing more of the great ways they’re able to inspire others in the future.”
For more information about Neale-Wade Academy, please visit: www.neale-wade.org
