Young Voices Healthy Futures – The Pitch! was organised by the City of Wolverhampton Council, Wolves Foundation and children’s charity Barnardo’s and brought together Key Stage 3 students from 7 local schools, each working in teams to develop and present an idea to a panel of ‘dragons’ at Molineux Stadium.
Around 10 students and a member of staff attended from each of the participating schools, St Edmund’s, Wolverhampton Grammar School, St Regis Academy, Coppice School, Smestow Academy, Heath Park, Thomas Telford UTC and Highfields.
The event aimed to give young people a voice in shaping support for emotional health and wellbeing across the city. To help spark ideas, students heard short presentations from the School Nursing Service, Wolves Foundation and Kooth, the online mental health platform for young people, with additional support from LGBTQ+ youth charity X2Y.
The teams then had 45 minutes to create their concepts before pitching to a panel in a format inspired by the television programme Dragons’ Den. The ‘dragons’ included Wolverhampton Wanderers Women’s captain Anna Morphet, Louise Sharrod, the council’s Head of Service for Public Health Children and Young People, Emma Allen-Smith, Head of School Nursing at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, Rebecca Glazzard from the council’s Educational Psychology Team and Kathryn Bailey, the council’s School Improvement SEND Advisor.
The judges heard a wide range of ideas, including sleep apps, peer mentoring schemes, gamified apps that reward positive habits, wellbeing toolkits, and apps designed to support parents – with the winning idea coming from students from St Edmund’s, who developed the YELLOW Toolkit, a digital wellbeing resource inspired by the national Hello Yellow campaign.
The YELLOW Toolkit included videos, advice, coping strategies, stress management support, peer led content and regular wellbeing check ins, and was designed to support young people experiencing stress, particularly around exams and school pressures, by offering practical and accessible help.
Judges agreed the YELLOW Toolkit addressed key concerns raised during the event, especially anxiety and stress, and praised it for being realistic, scalable and rooted in the experiences of young people themselves. One judge commented: “An idea that can be developed quickly, and we liked that you focused on stress and linked it to a national campaign.”
The council’s Public Health team are now looking to work with the students to progress their idea.
Councillor Obaida Ahmed, the council’s Cabinet Member for Health, Wellbeing and Community, said: “It’s inspiring to see young people leading the way in shaping solutions to support emotional health and wellbeing in Wolverhampton.
“They understand the pressures they and their peers face, and events like this give them a real voice in suggested ideas for support that would work best for them. The ideas shared were creative and practical, and the YELLOW Toolkit is a fantastic example of how we can build accessible support around what young people say they need.”
The event was organised by Amanda Evans, Senior Public Health Specialist with the council, Jade Sutton, Health Improvement Manager at Wolves Foundation, and Claire Leyland, Team Manager at Barnardo’s.
