On the 3rd and 4th of March, Year 12 student Morven Yerbury in her role as ‘Prefect for Health’, travelled to Netherhall School along with a selected group of Year 9 students to complete training to become Youth Health Champions.
Morven reports:
Tuesday began with a quiz about different aspects of life in Cumbria. This led to exploring why public health is so important. We looked at various information and statistics, such as how much sleep teenagers should get and how many houses are in Cumbria.
We then moved on to activities that helped us understand how many distinct aspects of health there are for both young people and adults. Following discussions within our group, our instructor, Kim, gave us more information that we hadn’t included during the activities.
On Tuesday, we heard from three speakers. Dr Alex, who works for Public Health and travels around Cumbria when needed, discussed a little about his role. He then showed us some long‑term conditions that can develop if we don’t take care of our health. We also had a talk from the Cumbria Police Department, specifically working in County Lines. They explained the dangers of getting involved with certain people, and we heard a story that highlighted the impact poor health can have on someone.
We were then tasked with creating a campaign. This, along with other tasks in our booklet, would go towards completing the Level 2 qualification.
On Wednesday, we began the day with an exam on the things we had learned on Tuesday. This gave us the Level 1 qualification so we could progress to Level 2.
Following this, we received three more talks that gave us key information needed for the project. The first was from CADAS, who have launched a new programme. This was extremely helpful for our school, as we had planned a campaign around this topic. We then had a talk from a gambling support organisation that helps those with severe gambling problems. This was particularly interesting, as we don’t often hear from such groups, and it helped us understand the dangers involved.
To end day two, we heard from Colin Cox, the Director of Public Health at Cumberland Council. This was extremely insightful, as he shared his thoughts and allowed us to suggest ideas that we felt could benefit public health.
Overall, this experience was a wonderful way to see different people’s approaches to subjects we may not have considered before. It was also a fantastic opportunity to gain a qualification that will not only help us as Youth Health Champions, but also benefit everyone in our school community, as we can share information with them.
