Putting the spotlight on Social Action Projects

Dame Kelly Holmes Trust’s schools-based programmes, On Track to Achieve and AQA Unlocking Potential, are designed to boost wellbeing, increase confidence, strengthen resilience and build self-esteem so individuals can fulfil their true potential. Over the course of the 2024/25 academic year, students across the country have been working hard with their Athlete Mentors to identify, plan and execute a Social Action Project which is close to their hearts and benefits those around them.

In the second of this series, we’re celebrating the achievements of the young people on our programmes, spotlighting the social action projects they have successfully delivered.

Spirit Week at Chatham Grammar a great success

Young people at Chatham Grammar School in Kent, participating in our AQA Unlocking Potential programme this academic year, have delivered a school-wide ‘Spirit Week’ for their Social Action Project, alongside their athlete mentor, Commonwealth Gold medallist fencer, Claire Bennett.

The Spirit Week was designed to boost morale, encourage team-bonding and promote a sense of community within their school. Over 980 students took part in the weeklong event.

For the girls, their project involved two parts. Highlighting how much their confidence has grown over the programme, they firstly presented multiple school assemblies the week before the event, sharing their learnings on the 5 Ways of Wellbeing and how they would feature in the activities they were planning.

As Spirit Week kicked off the following week the group had different activities planned which included a Mindful Monday session, on the Wednesday they encouraged everyone to wear pink in a show to express their uniqueness and to be themselves.

Speaking about the group’s deliver of their project, Claire Bennett said: “I’m really proud of the girls, they stepped out of their comfort zone to the deliver assemblies across the school and then when Spirit Week came about they led and delivered their sessions with confidence, was really great to see!”

Chatham Grammar AQA group taking part in their Social Action Project

A Mental Health Sports Day to help local primary school pupils

For Kings Leadership School in Manchester, their Social Action Project focused on young people’s mental health and wellbeing. Alongside their athlete mentor, Commonwealth Bronze medallist in Taekwondo, Henry Cookey, they wanted to make it a mixture of physical activity plus having the opportunity to talk about the issue of mental health.

They decided to run a sports day for 5 local primary schools, offering younger pupils the opportunity to come and take part in a wide range of sporting activities. The day featured a spin on the popular relay running race, encouraging young people to share their thoughts around mental health as they passed on the baton. To round off the day, there was then an open discussion with the primary schools for them to talk and share any experiences of mental health.

Henry said: “Unbelievably proud of this group, they did well in preparation for this Social Action Project and then on the day everything ran well. Feedback from the primary schools was that they absolutely loved all the activities.”