Together For Our Planet Garden Transformation
At Building Self-Belief CIO we believe that Social Action is an important element of increasing and improving wellbeing and self worth. Our Environmental Programmes help young people develop better connections with their peers, their communities and it gives them a way of improving their own and other people’s lives for the better.
So many young people are conscious of the need to improve our environment and work towards a circular economy - and our projects are helping them do this. With a focus on the environment because of COP26 in Glasgow, we incorporated more of an eco-slant into our work.
Our Environmental Project at Consett Academy aimed to transform a derelict piece of land into a colourful garden for the school to use for educational and wellbeing purposes.
The garden situated just in front of the school was fenced off and out of bounds to pupils due to the ground being too contaminated by glass and rubble.
Thanks to our work with the Year 9 pupils from Consett Academy and funding from the National Lottery we have been able to successfully transform the garden. Furthermore, our work with the Year 9 pupils has helped to inspire an Environmental Ambassadors Youth Panel, which will help Building Self-Belief CIO deliver ‘green’ based schemes across the Consett Area.
“Because of Building Self-Belief, we have actually achieved our goal of making the area safe and serviceable. We now have a dedicated area for wildlife, with wild seeds sowed and new trees planted.Through Christine and Holly from Building Self-Belief we have now transformed that area to becoming truly eco-friendly. A huge thank you from the children and myself for BSBCIO’s unwavering financial and practical support. We love our wellbeing garden.”
- Ms S Hopkins, Consett Academy
Youth Social Action / April 16th, 2026
Community Litter Pick Reel
As part of Durham County Council's Big Spring Clean Campaign, we collaborated on some Litter Pick Days involving the community around Consett!
Self-Belief and Emotional Wellbeing / March 27th, 2025
Aspirations and Future Planning / March 27th, 2025
Boldon Colliery 'Bridging the Gap' Youth Employability Programme
The Boldon Colliery 'Bridging the Gap' Youth Employability Programme, supported by the Wellesley Trust through the Tyne & Wear and Northumberland Community Foundation, aimed to boost the aspirations, employability, and self-esteem of Year 10 students at Boldon School. Over 12 weeks, students took part in workshops on topics like healthy living, CV writing, and emotional wellbeing, developing key skills in communication, confidence, and debt management. They also visited Bay Plastics and took part in a team-building Go-Karting activit
Youth Social Action / January 30th, 2025
Aspirations and Future Planning / January 30th, 2025
Careers Event at North Durham Academy, Stanley.
On Thursday 23rd January 2025, we hosted a Careers Event at North Durham Academy, sponsored by Karbon Homes, which was a huge success! We had 30 visitors kindly give up their time to speak to the students about their careers, job roles, companies and their journeys to get to their current positions. The students then had the opportunity to ask questions to the visitors to find out more about their choices at 16, what qualifications are required for their job and any challenges or barriers they have faced in their career.