We were delighted to be asked by Rochdale Borough Council and Your Trust to develop this pack and we hope it helps as many young people as possible move forward in their school journey. We asked our wonderful artists Vicky, Maddie, Amina, Jodie, Sandra, Natalie and Alex to develop the activities in the pack (you can find out more about them at the end of the booklet). One of our designers, Stew, put it all together and Bamford Print in Heywood, got all of these materials together, made up the boxes, printed the booklet and delivered it to 19 schools and a further 1,000 packs were distributed in the community through Your Trust and the Youth Service.
We based the activities around common stationery that might be needed for starting school, so that we could provide for two needs in one, as well as considering the impact on wellbeing. Many students did not get to visit their high school before leaving for summer holidays so it could feel like a scary transition for lots of young people. We hope this pack goes some way to building coping skills, expression through art and learning daily essentials like using a timetable and preparing for the day.
