Each Wednesday afternoon after school, Lauren, Ashleigh and Jodie in year 10 at Swallow Hill Community College attend the community neurological unit at St Mary`s Hospital, Armley to engage with patients who have suffered brain injuries.
They support patients by doing craft work, drawing and chatting with them, writes Pat Doherty, lead teacher for citizenship.
Swallow Hill is rightly proud of its young people.
Supporting elderly
Members of year 7 at Swallow Hill Community College engage with the service users at Armley Helping Hands each week in a six-week intergenerational project which aims to build bridges between the old and the young.
This week`s session was understanding what it means to need help and so both young and older people in turn were given glasses smeared with Vaseline impairing their vision and then aided to walk around obstacles.
In this way it was easier to understand the effect a disability can have on a person`s life as they lose their independence.
They also washed each other`s faces and fed each other to realise what it means to lose the skills of personal care.
Glenn Broadbent from community group Alltogether Armley attended the disability session and took part in the activities with the older people and the students.
