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AMBER SHAW, SECOND-YEAR STUDENT, WINS THE HIGH SHERIFF OF GM AWARD FOR YOUNG CITIZEN OF THE YEAR 2021

AMBER SHAW, SECOND-YEAR STUDENT, WINS THE HIGH SHERIFF OF GM AWARD FOR YOUNG CITIZEN OF THE YEAR 2021

Everyone at The Sixth Form was delighted when our fabulous second-year student, Amber Shaw, won The High Sheriff of GM Award for Young Citizen of the Year 2021. Amber was nominated by Progress Tutor, Lexy Shipley, for all of the wonderful work that she’s done campaigning for the rights of young people with Special educational needs and disability (SEND).

The awards, which were held at the University of Bolton, seek to celebrate kindness, thoughtfulness, bravery, or actions that have made a difference to our communities.  The High Sheriff of GM, Diane Hawkins, said of the awards, “In these uncertain times, it is heartening to see so many young people taking their own initiative to make local communities safer and better places to live. It is extremely important that we recognise and celebrate their achievements.”

Amber, a former The Lowry Academy student, is studying Triple Vocational A Level Information Technology. This year, she has been involved in the Let Us Learn Too campaign to ask the government to listen and give equal rights to children and young people with SEND. In October, Amber travelled to Downing Street to hand in a petition calling on the government and the Department for Education to listen to the experiences of young people with SEND like her. Amber is an incredibly active member of her Youth Council in Salford and has recently been running to become the Young Mayor of Salford. Despite the challenges she faces due to her disability, she has an amazing positive attitude and gives up so much of her own time to make positive change. Amber also volunteers at the Barnardo’s shop in Bolton every week. 

Amber attended the awards evening with her parents

Janine Adams, Amber’s Learning Services Assistant here at The Sixth Form, is thrilled for Amber and said:

I have been Amber’s key worker for nearly two years, and she has been a pleasure to work with. Amber is a very positive young lady who always has a smile on her face and cheers everyone up. Amber is very motivated and determined to succeed and gives 100% to her studies and is willing to help her peers to succeed as well. Amber always wants to participate in activities that will benefit other people and is generous with her time. Amber has a bubbly personality and likes to make sure she includes everyone in conversations, so no one ever feels excluded.

The High Sheriff of GM, Diane Hawkins presents Amber Shaw with her award

First-year, Holly Hargreaves, a former Sharples High School student and second-year, Zuzanna Kolodziej, a former The Derby High School student, were also both nominated by Progress Tutor, Andy Howard, for their exceptional enrichment project.

Their project, Security and Intelligence Project Bolton or #sipbolton, analyses crime rates and data from across Bolton and seeks to categorise the crime and highlight current rises in certain types of crimes. The students have a display board in The Sixth Form alerting students and staff of their recent findings and they hold weekly meetings where other students can help to analyse the data and discuss the findings.

Holly Hargreaves, Zuzanna Kolodziej, The High Sheriff of GM, Diane Hawkins and Andy Howard

We would like to congratulate Amber, again, for winning the award and Holly and Zuzanna for their nominations. It’s great to see our students offering so much to our community.