The Social Action Programme, run by United Learning in collaboration with the Dirt is Good Project, gives students the opportunity to devise and carry out their own social action project to positively impact their local community.

This year, students delivered a diverse range of projects from litter-picking to those focused on improving health and wellbeing.

For example, at Bacon’s College, students carried out a project which addressed waste and pollution in London’s waterways.

Meanwhile, at The Regis School, students chose to focus on cleaning up their local beach and raising awareness of the issue amongst the school and wider community.

To celebrate their superb efforts, students were invited to attend a Celebration Day where they presented their projects to an audience of around 100 people, made up of students and staff from schools across the Group.

Later in the day, they received a tour of the College and enjoyed a taster lecture on environmentalism. Students also had the opportunity to quiz undergraduates about what it’s like to study at Oxford and to find out more about university life.

Speaking about the experience, Vian, a student at Walthamstow Academy, said:

“This experience was great for building up skills such as critical thinking and resilience.”

Another student, Mimi, from Bacon’s College, added:

“I enjoyed this experience, but I feel that we can do more, and more around our area!”

Ben Antell, Director of Secondary Academies at United Learning, said:

“Having successfully run the programme in our primary schools for a number of years, we were thrilled to expand it to our secondary academies this year, giving more of our students the opportunity to deliver impactful projects for the benefit of their communities.

“Congratulations to all students who took part in the programme for making such a real and positive difference with their projects. The Celebration Day at the University of Oxford was a wonderful way to mark students’ achievements – they presented their projects with admirable confidence and should feel very proud of their efforts.”