Year 7 and 8 students at Fulham Cross Academy identified a problem at their school and volunteered to be part of the solution. Fellow students were throwing clothes, shoes and bikes away much more than they needed to, so this Good Life Group aimed to shift their peers’ perception around consumption, reduce the pressures to buy new stuff and influence a culture of re-using, fixing and repairing at their school.

Through the Schools’s Good Life Charter programme, this group had workshops where they learned about why young people face such pressure to consume, and how advertisers can influence this through tactics like limitless scrolling and surveillance advertising. They also worked with local community organisation Team Repair, to learn about repairing techniques and methods that they might be able to use in their school to repair equipment like microscopes. The students loved working with community experts and the session nurtured impressive collaboration skills between the students, who were working towards a common goal. 

All of this inspired them, and they decided to work together to transform an un-used school supplies cupboard into an amazing fix and repair shop for their school. As a school community, Fulham Cross Academy now has a space where students can bring broken items and get these fixed. Students have been coming to the repair shop to get items fixed like school shoes and bike inner tubes which has been an incredible success. 

Members of the Good Life Group will also be taking part in mechanic workshops which will begin in the Autumn term, focusing on cycle bike repair and maintenance, to further help their school community in reducing consumption and creating a culture of fix and repair. They will start with 10 broken bikes, repair these and donate them to students who need them most.

All of this inspired them, and they decided to work together to transform an un-used school supplies cupboard into an amazing fix and repair shop for their school. As a school community, Fulham Cross Academy now has a space where students can bring broken items and get these fixed. Students have been coming to the repair shop to get items fixed like school shoes and bike inner tubes which has been an incredible success.

Members of the Good Life Group will also be taking part in mechanic workshops which will begin in the Autumn term, focusing on cycle bike repair and maintenance, to further help their school community in reducing consumption and creating a culture of fix and repair. They will start with 10 broken bikes, repair these and donate them to students who need them most.

“The young people have been impacted on all different levels. Their interest in learning new things – repairing, interest in the environment, being active, actually seeing their ideas coming to life.”

- Nathan Cardwell,
Climate Change Leader, Fulham Cross Academy