When Jack Maddock and friends realised there were students at their school who could not afford uniforms, they leapt into action.
The group of Year 10s set up a uniform recycling shop to help with deprivation in their local community – and have now been recognised with a Prince’s Trust award.
Their teacher, Penny Pearson, helped them to sort out the shirts, ties and jumpers languishing in lost property.
Soon the group were learning how to use washing machines, iron and package up the recycled uniform, ready to go to students in need.
Jack, 15, said: “We realised how important it was for people at school to have the right uniform, but a lot of them couldn’t afford it. We wanted to help people in need.
“We went to the lost property department, found loads of clothes that nobody had taken home, and decided to do something good with them.”
Penny, who teaches at Ysgol Maesteg in Bridgend, Wales, says the cost of living crisis has hit the community hard, stretching families’ finances, which resulted in some not being able to replace their teenagers’ school uniforms regularly.
She said: “We have seen the number of pupils eligible for free school meals increase by 12% in the past few years. We wanted the pupils to come up with a project to help others, while also being sustainable.
“There’s a lot of single working parents around here and they’ve said it’s been a lifeline for them.” As part of the project, which took three months from start to finish, the group learned how to take care of clothes and present them to look like new again.
Once washed, ironed and packaged, the clothes are collected by a school governor. The governor runs the swap shop in a community space, so pupils in need don’t have to see peers face to face to get help. Penny explained: “Instead of having to come to school they can go to a safe space.”
As for Jack, the skills he’s learned on the project have turned out to be invaluable. He said: “I hadn’t known how to use a washing machine before.”
But he added: “Luckily my parents don’t expect me to take over the washing at home now.”
Jack said that finding out he and his friends had won the Dell Technologies Community Impact Award by The Prince’s Trust was “amazing”.
He added: “I always knew we had a good team spirit. I hope the uniform shop keeps going for years.”
‘I genuinely think I owe my life to the Prince’s Trust’
Joanna Drewett is really happy with her life. She owns a lovely home she shares with her two dogs and her boyfriend, Jack.
She works as a junior buyer, having started out on work experience, and she feels settled.
But for Joanna, 24, life has turned around completely in just six years.
She says: “Six years ago, I was in a hospital. I was trying to end my life. I did not see a future.”
Joanna, from South Manchester, had suffered with mental health issues since she was 10.
She went on: “When I was 15 I was admitted into hospital, then I was in hospital on and off for nearly five years.” Despite her mental health troubles, Joanna managed to gain three GCSEs.
When she was finally discharged, at 19, it was difficult to adjust. “By that point, I had completely lost all of my life skills,” she says. In search of a purpose, she enrolled in the Prince’s Trust Team programme, a 12-week course, with Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service.
She excelled, and transformed her life.
For triumphing over adversity, Joanna was named winner of the Homesense Young Achiever Award at the The Prince’s Trust and TK Maxx & Homesense Awards.
Joanna says: “I genuinely do think that I owe my life to the Prince’s Trust.”
