Pupils lead Inspiring International Women’s Day Project

An inspiring group of Year 8 pupils from Chetwynde School are leading a week-long programme of events to mark International Women’s Day.

Alongside a writing competition, whole school assembly, presentations to primary children, non-uniform day, raffle and bake sale they will also interview pupils from selected year groups to capture views on gender equality.

The initiative, starting Monday 9 March, is the brainchild of Lilia Sparkes, Erin Caine, Sienna Corrie and Gabrielle Burns.

Lilia said they plan to involve pupils from primary, secondary and staff to raise awareness of gender equality.

“We did a project last year and wanted to follow up with something even bigger. We like being busy and it is important to educate people on real-world issues.”

The project grew from the pupils’ shared passion for equality and their desire to challenge views and educate others.

Funds raised through the raffle and bake sales will be donated to the Malala Fund, which campaigns globally for every girl’s right to education.

Gabrielle said the event will put their planning, presenting and fundraising skills to the test.

“As a group we are really passionate about women’s rights and want women to be truly equal to men. We feel it is important to keep making progress through education and awareness.

“We hope our project, working with Year 3 pupils and above, will help younger children understand and value equality from an early age.”

A central part of the initiative is outreach to the primary phase of the school.

“We are looking at using interactive activities such as true-or-false questions and word-based tasks to help younger children explore ideas of fairness, respect and equality. We want to highlight positive female role models from both history and the present day.” said Erin, 

“We want to give something back to the school after it has done so much for us,” added Sienna.

Sian Huck, Head of Humanities at Chetwynde which is part of South Cumbria Mult-Academy Trust, said the initiative highlighted the pupils’ leadership, commitment and social awareness.

“They are self-starters and have worked really hard to plan a project which will show how our young people can drive meaningful conversations and positive change within their school community,” she said.

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