News & Stories

Great Oaks Small School is exactly that. A small – plus friendly and welcoming - school for neurodiverse students, located near Minster, Kent. The school is based in an old farmhouse, with a green outdoor space that pupils are allowed to use at break times and for time out to relax.

Students came together to form a Transform Our World group that explored compassionate values, and they discussed a number of ideas for projects they wanted to lead to benefit their school and the wider community. One popular idea was to plant some fruit trees into a new garden area that the school is developing.

Nelly, one of the students who put forward the idea, explains:

“As a group we have been planting fruit trees to benefit our forest school. This has included us digging holes and watering to make sure the fruits flourish. It will give us the benefit of picking our own fruit and using it for our cooking lessons in the future.”  

Other pupils in the group reflected on how it had felt to participate in the planting activity:

“It felt inspiring being part of this project. It felt very inspirational. It will inspire me to take care of the world.” Rex

“I helped with planting and watering the trees, but the water [from the water butt] made my hand smelly! It felt alright but I don’t like getting muddy.” Preston

“Having this project has made me feel good knowing we’re leaving a good deed behind and helping improve our forest school.” Nelly

“Taking part in the project, me and Evie have felt very joyful and happy. At the start we were looking forward to it and keen to get started.” Savannah and Evie 

Ralph and Rex were also keen to plan a beach clean, so the whole group came together to take part in this activity to benefit the local community and natural environment. Fortunately it was a bright and sunny day when the group set off for Broadstairs beach and everyone got stuck in with litter pickers and bin bags, seeking out plastic wherever it had blown.  

Asked what they had enjoyed, pupils mentioned ‘going out of school’, ‘learning something new’, ‘making a difference in the world’ and ‘the ice cream’! 

Some pupils are now keen to pursue other project ideas. Hattie and Meggy were concerned about the plight of red pandas. Juno is interested in a project to raise awareness about the issue of suicide, possible fundraising for charity The Samaritans, who give support to those who need it.

To the question ‘What would you like to tell other young people about participating in the Transform Our World programme':

“It’s fun and we do a lot.” Savannah

“It’s great to see just how much you can accomplish.” Nelly

“We would recommend it.” Hattie and Meggy (The Terrific Twins)

Great Oaks Small School is supported by Liz Hayes, Transform Our World Youth Engagement Practitioner for Kent, supported by #iwillfund and National Lottery Community Fund.

If you’d like to support young people in your school to take action, download our Youth Social Action handbook.