Rushden Academy's Social Action Squad's (SAS) was founded following our successful mission to Manchester with our Year 10 students in 2022-2023. We were privileged to take some Year 10 students to join other schools in Project Revolution Manchester which worked to support various people in need, from those surviving domestic abuse and those at risk of eviction or having their children go into care. This involved projects based around gardening, painting as well as working with the local homeless population. We wanted to bring this back to Rushden and support our local community, and therefore SAS was born.
Our SAS has continued growing since July 2023, after starting with 10 students going to Manchester, we now have over 90 students split into various Social Action Squads. Students are placed into a squad with peers from various year groups. This has such a positive impact within our school community and we now have multiple staff members joining in and giving back.
As each new squad is formed, they collaborate to design their squad's name. So if you see any of our squads (with their lovely blue T-Shirts) please feel free to speak to us and find out more. Our current squads are named:
- Squad Phoenix
- Squad Fizzy Baguette
- Squad Blue Wolf
- Squad Magic Monkey
- Squad Elf
- Squad Biscuit
- Squad Frog
- Squad Special Forces
Since our inception we have:
- Supported at the local Serve Day Centre. This is a day centre that helps potentially lonely older adults socialise and feel included within the community. We take our young people to visit and get them involved in the social activities and spreading happiness with the service users.
- We also regularly visit the Beeches Care Home, where students are able to chat to the residents and learn about their lives while giving the residents an opportunity to to compare the difference between the generations.
- Students have gone out into our local community and completed litter picks to help make a difference to our environment.
- Some squads have also had the opportunity to become reading partners and pen-pals to students at Denfield Park Primary.
- Our SAS squads also complete projects inside our school, and have recently been working on some gardening projects to create an area for their peers to focus on their wellbeing.
We would love to hear from you as Rushden Academy's Social Action Squad's (SAS) are always looking for opportunities to help within the community. If you know of anywhere or anyone that we could help or support please let us know. We are looking for one off opportunities, short term commitments and long term projects. To contact the Social Action Squad, email .
