The final week of term is upon us and what a fantastically successful year it has been for R U Different?

2014-15 has been the biggest year for us to date with many new schools across the UK and Denmark taking part in the programme.

After their introduction in the last academic year, our enterprise days have once again been a huge success in schools, proving young people are truly the experts in leading change!

One that particularly caught our eye came from year 9’s at Netherwood ALC in Barnsley (pictured).

Their ‘change your perception’ banner depicts the negative portrayal of young people in hoodies vs the positive reality of the same young people, along with the key social norms message that most choose NOT to smoke. A really powerful campaign!

Other designs were taken to new levels, with students expressing their creativity and imaginations far beyond a standard message poster! The ideas were endless, and included water bottle labels, bunting, cardboard cut-outs, t-shirts, floor stickers and even a mirrored poster, all of which were based on promoting a positive health message from their own school’s survey results.

September will see us host our R U Different? 2014-15 Celebration Events in four parts of the country; Buckinghamshire, Dudley, Halton and Barnsley. The event will cover the results from this year’s programme in that area, the shortlisted enterprise ideas presented by the students themselves and, an introduction to our new mindfulness for schools programme ‘Mindful Me’. Places are limited so please email [email protected] to register your interest in attending.

The shortlisted enterprise ideas from each region will then be entered into our second Enterprise Competition, which will run throughout October. We aim to beat the 2,000 total public votes we received last year to decide the eventual winner!

There is still time for schools to sign up for the R U Different? programme, which will commence this Autumn. If you need any more information please contact [email protected].