CHILDREN from Runcorn have been recognised with a prestigious prize for their social action.

Ormiston Academies Trust, which runs Ormiston Bolingbroke Academy and Sandymoor Ormiston Academy, has been recognised with a Silver Award for Impact through Partnership in the Pearson National Teaching Awards for its work to engage young people in their communities through #WeWill.

Selected from thousands of nominees, the award highlights the remarkable impact Ormiston has on shaping the lives of the young people across the academies.

The prestigious award recognises Ormiston’s #WeWill project, which has empowered young people across 93 schools and 272,689 hours of social action activity to support their local communities and make a meaningful difference to the world around them. 

At Ormiston Bolingbroke Academy, students have used their #WeWill Cook project to learn about healthy eating and healthy lifestyles in their science and food technology lessons, sharing their new learnings with the younger generations through mentoring local pupils at Gorsewood Primary. As part of the project, the students also used their time to organise food collections which were donated to Runcorn and District Foodbank.

Students at Sandymoor Ormiston Academy looked at drama and the world of Shakespeare with their #WeWill Perform project. The talented students have been working alongside Shakespeare North Charity and West End in Schools to learn about the history of Shakespeare and the art of performance, using this new learning to mentor younger pupils at Moore Primary.

Following the success of Ormiston’s #WeWill social action projects, the Trust is now in the running for the coveted Gold Award, which will be announced at an awards ceremony later this year.

Tom Rees, chief executiveoOfficer at Ormiston Academies Trust, said: “We are so proud to have been recognised by the Pearson National Teaching Awards for #WeWill and Ormiston’s commitment to meaningful social action work. It has been heartwarming to see our students and staff across the Trust get involved with so many different projects which have had such a positive effect on their communities.

“Ormiston is a values-led organisation committed to creating the best possible learning opportunities for all young people, empowering them to become responsible citizens who contribute to their communities. We look forward to seeing these projects continue to grow, and to building new initiatives in the future.”