Pupils from across North Wales paving the way for change in the region

Date: Wednesday, July 17, 2024

Pupils from seven schools from across North Wales came together at Wrexham University for the inaugural ‘Wrexham Wellbeing Festival’ where they delivered public narratives on topics surrounding mental health and wellbeing. 

The young people from across North Wales shared their narratives around the aspects of wellbeing where they want to see change, such as tackling stigma and bullying, the impact of homework on homelife for pupils and teachers, mindfulness and climate change. Pupils delivered the talks in the style of a ‘Ted Talk’ to a range of regional decision makers including educators, local authorities and third-sector organisations, who have committed to taking their suggestions and ideas from the back to their respective organisations for consideration.  

The Wellbeing Festival builds on the the previously successful 2021 event in partnership with GwE and was organised as part of the University’s North Wales Children’s University project, which is part of its civic mission partnership commitment to tackle social inequality across North Wales. 

Amber Percy, Civic Mission Project Manager and organiser of the festival explained the importance of these events. She said: “We want to teach the young people how to confidently influence decision makers to create change for issues that matter to them. 

“It is fantastic to be able to give them a platform to vocalise their point of view and things that matter to them.  

Nina Ruddle, Head of Public Policy Engagement at Wrexham University, described the desired outcomes for the day. She said: "The event was all about empowering young people to have a voice, build their confidence and enable them to influence real change when it comes to the challenges that matter most to them. 

"These are the leaders of the future and our role and the role of all the decision makers in the audience was to listen, to better understand the wellbeing challenges impacting on young people and to take the action that they told us they want to see. Our hope is that all partners involved will now action the asks made by the young people, building on our shared civic mission commitment to tackling social inequality." 

The talk from Victoria CP School pupils featured two acting sessions from the group focusing on how having a growth mindset, in contrast to having a fixed mindset, can positively affect the wellbeing of young people. They also explained the power of the word 'yet'.  

Sofia, Megan, and Solin from Victoria CP offered an insight into their presentation. They said: "We acted out two scenes to show different examples of growth and limited mindsets. One will be about a spelling test and the other set in an art lesson and how you can react differently depending on your mindset. 

We really hope it has an impact on the audience to get back up even if you fail or make mistakes. We would like to remind people to have resilience, hope and to keep trying." 

Climate change was also a prominent topic of the day as direct impact on wellbeing. Molly Salter and Ben Turpin, part of the Climate Change Team at Flintshire County Council were eager to hear what the pupils had to say on the issue. They said: "It was interesting to see what their understanding was of what is happening to the planet, and what they and their schools can do to help. 

"Our climate change strategy is currently being reviewed and what we get from today can directly feed into this. We cannot underestimate how sharp children are on this topic and how powerful their voices can be." 

The seven schools which took part in the festival were:  

• Mold Alun 
• Victoria CP School 
• Gwersyllt CP School
• Ysgol Eirias
• Ysgol Bryn Alyn
• Golftyn CP School
• Ysgol y Grango  

All the young people who took part received coaching in the leadership technique of public narrative, with support from leadership practice Do-Well (UK) Ltd, in an approach that is a UK first, to help develop their leadership and influencing skills. 

You can read more about the University's Civic Mission here.