By John Baron
Community spirited teenagers from Dixons Unity Academy have won a top award for creating a thriving community hub at their school.
Nathan Campbell and Ronnie Walters, both 16, scooped the King’s Trust JD Foundation Community Impact award for England, which celebrates young people who have succeeded against all the odds and made a difference in their community.
The award comes as the ‘Unity Community’ hub held a special event celebrating two years of supporting students and their families, as well as the wider community of Armley, Farnley and Wortley.
The hub came about after Nathan and Ronnie had a disrupted transition into secondary school as a result of the pandemic.
They wanted to do something to support and two years ago came up with the idea of opening a hub to help build friendships, confidence and support.
The majority of their classes in Year 6 and 7 were via Zoom, with their transition from primary to secondary school done virtually, which was particularly challenging. This affected their confidence and learning, leaving them very unsettled.
Entering Year 9, Nathan and Ronnie excelled taking part in The King’s Trust Enterprise Challenge programme, an inter-school competition aimed at developing young people’s confidence and enterprise skills.
During the programme, the pair competed to present their own social enterprise idea ‘Unity Community’ – a community hub, serving those within their school and wider community most at need, at the regional final for the North. They went on to score one of the top three scores in Yorkshire and the Humber in the business simulation portion of the programme.
Ronnie said: “When deciding what our social enterprise should be about, we reflected on the diverse cultures within our school and surrounding community. Conscious of those struggling financially around us in the area, we wanted to create something that would be of service to everyone.”
Despite not winning, Nathan and Ronnie worked hard to bring their vision to life and in April 2023 launched their community hub – Unity Community.
The hub is now open every Friday morning to serve families of their school and anyone from the locality. It is a food bank, uniform exchange, clothing donations, lending library, sewing area, play area and a community café. They are now inspiring other schools to do the same – including in America – and have also had a visit from Rachel Reeves MP.
Ronnie added: “We didn’t have anything like this in the school originally and we knew it was important.
“To see how other primary and secondary schools are all making use of our community hub and taking away ideas to implement themselves is amazing to see and it’s rewarding to know that we’re contributing so much to so many people in so many areas.
“We’re so proud of the award. It’s incredible to see our small idea, which stemmed from our own experiences in lockdown, support so many people.”
Unity Community has since gone from strength to strength and celebrated its second birthday on Friday, with people from different backgrounds to celebrate with food and cake.
The hub was visited by representatives from New Wortley Community Centre (pictured above), who spoke about an initiative around warmth and energy costs.
Below is a gallery of photos from the event:
The hub is also supported by pupils who act as student community ambassadors.
Angie Germain, lead teacher for Unity Community, paid tribute to the boys, who were only 14 years old when they came up with the idea.
“From what was for many, a difficult time of adversity and isolation, Nathan and Ronnies idea to create a community hub was created,” she said.
“They recognised how the covid times impacted so many with barriers such as the cost-of-living, lack of money to afford food or pay for heating, people feeling isolation, and a lack of community spirit.”
Nathan added: “It’s incredible to see that our small idea that came from experiences we had from covid and being supportive of everyone else in the community has really taken wings.”
The JD Foundation Community Impact award for England recognises young people who have made a positive contribution to their local community or school and have developed their own personal skills through working in a team.
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