Ambassadors backed by Mayor at Whitworth Community High School

Retiring Mayor of Whitworth Councillor Lynda Barnes presents Ambassador Katie Bray with a cheque for £200 to help towards training with other ambassadors and Assistant Headteacher Paul Dugdale

Students will be trained to become anti-bullying ambassadors in a scheme as part of a scheme in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales.

The last engagement for the retiring Mayor of Whitworth Councillor Lynda Barnes was to present Whitworth Community High School with a cheque for £200 to help towards the cost of sending the first nine ambassadors for training in Manchester on 16 June.

She told the students them: “Without you, Whitworth has no future.”

Councillor Barnes urged them to continue to be involved in their community, praised the school for being ‘amazing’ and described the achievements of the students and Headteacher Gill Middlemas as ‘inspirational’.

The idea for the ambassadors came from 14-year-old Katie Bray who suggested it to Assistant Headteacher Paul Dugdale.

She said: “I can remember when I started in Year seven, walking up the drive, which seemed an incredibly long way. and, even though our school is quite small, it felt quite intimidating.

“However, I soon made friends and one was Amber Bramley and we are still friends.

“I think having the ambassadors will help the pastoral team because there will be students who have been trained who will be keeping an eye out around school and students will know who they can talk to.”

Katie’s friend Amber, 14, is another ambassador. She said: “I have been bullied in the past and I would deal with it by talking to a friend. Bullying can have long term affects and one of my friends, although older now, is still having counselling.”

Two students from Years Seven, Eight and 10 and three from Year Nine will be the core ambassadors. They will use the knowledge from they acquire to train other ambassadors at Whitworth and, on Councillor Barnes’ suggestion, possibly at primary schools within the Whitworth Cluster.

Mr Dugdale said it has been a difficult job selecting the ambassadors because the letters of application had been of a very high standard.

Councillor Barnes held three events during her year of office and raised £1,250 which she divided among groups working with the young including uniformed movements, Hallfold Playgroup and amateur dramatics.

Shortly after joining the young people for the coffee morning at the high school, Councillor Barnes was handing the chain of office to new Mayor Councillor Madelaine de Souza.

She praised Councillor de Souza for her support throughout the year and said: “She will be an absolutely superb Mayor.”

The Diana, Princess of Wales, Memorial Fund arranges training for Anti-Bullying Ambassadors when students explore a range of exercises to examine the issues around bullying and find out ways in which they can support others.