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The Good Life Group at Outwood Academy in Redcar are on Step 2 of the Good Life Schools Project – a National Lottery-funded programme, delivered by Global Action Plan - which involves exploring what it means to live a ‘good life’ in a world full of ‘goods’.

The students met together after school to explore the hidden stories behind our stuff, and set out to explore:

• How are products made?
• Who is involved in the production?
• Where do raw materials come from?
• How does the production of ‘stuff’ impact people and our planet?  

The curiosity of these young changemakers was sparked. Olie was keen to find out where petrol came from:

“I’ve chosen to look at petrol because it’s just, there! You never take into consideration where petrol comes from. I want to know where petrol comes from.”

Bailey decided to find out how t-shirts are made

“Most t-shirts that you wear are made from cotton grown by a farmer!” 

Exploring the hidden story behind our stuff helps us to discover how everything in our lives is connected to people and places around the world. The products we use every day have complicated journeys, shaped by the hands of workers and resources that are grown or mined from the ground.  

Running this activity in the classroom can help learners develop curiosity about social and environmental issues, develop critical thinking skills and make informed consumer choices.  

"Learning about the production process was super helpful and it linked perfectly to what I'm learning about in my science lessons.” - Hannah

“It was really good, the session was super inclusive, and everybody was given the option to present their ideas.” - Liv

Try it out in the classroom!  

• If you have 30 mins – an hour: Task your students with researching the hidden story behind a well-known product and presenting back to the class .
• If you have 5 mins: Play ‘grown or mined’ to get students thinking about where our products come from! Everything around is either grown (like plants, food, cotton for clothes) or mined (like metals and minerals for electronics). Run a quiz with students and read out 10 different products, one at a time. Ask students to stand up like a tree if they think the item is grown and sit down if they think a product is mined.  

You can watch Olie, from Outwood Academy Redcar interviewing the other students taking part in this session here:

We have a limited number of spaces left on our 2025/2026 Good Life Schools programme for secondary schools, sixth forms and colleges based in Leicester, Sheffield, Redcar and Cleveland, Durham, Merthyr Tydfil and Carmarthenshire.  

Are you a school in one of these areas? Email us at [email protected] to secure your place. Places are allocated on a first come, first served basis.