Sky News 'Kids Do Love Reading, if you give them the right stuff'

Our students recently featured in a Sky News piece exploring how the right books can inspire a genuine love of reading. The article highlights the growing movement to bring more diverse and representative literature into classrooms, something our young people care deeply about.

Seeing our students champion the power of stories and the importance of seeing themselves reflected in what they read is truly inspiring. Keep turning those pages, Bolder readers, your voices matter, and your love of reading shines through!

Read the Sky News article HERE

We welcomed Andrew Bernard from Innovative Enterprise to deliver a series of powerful and thought‑provoking workshops for students in Years 9 to 13. Through sessions exploring stereotypes, the “Man Box,” coercive control, healthy relationships and the influence of culture, students were encouraged to reflect deeply on the attitudes and behaviours that shape our society. From challenging unconscious biases in Key Stage 3, to examining coercive control with Year 11, and empowering Sixth Form students to become positive cultural leaders, these workshops equipped our young people with the insight, language, and confidence to recognise harmful behaviours and help build safer, more respectful communities.

Student response was overwhelmingly positive. Many commented on how the workshops opened their eyes to issues they had not previously considered, particularly around the pressures young people face to conform to gendered expectations. A number of students stayed behind at the end of the sessions to ask further questions and share personal reflections; a testament to the trust, thoughtfulness and engagement shown throughout the day.

The impact of these sessions will extend far beyond the classroom. They have sparked important conversations, challenged assumptions, and encouraged students to think critically about the type of community they want to be part of and contribute to. We are incredibly grateful to Andrew Bernard for his inspiring work, and proud of our students for approaching such sensitive topics with maturity, empathy and courage.

We were also very fortunate to host Sky News, who spent the day at Bolder Academy filming Andrew Bernard’s workshops and speaking with our students about the important themes explored throughout the sessions. We expect the piece to be aired in the coming weeks. Please look out for the link in our weekly newsletters and on our WhatsApp channel once the broadcast date is confirmed.

Overview of each session:

Year 11 - Look What You Made Me Do Domestic Abuse and the underpinning tools of Coercive Control and how CC is being normalised. Coercive and controlling behaviours are on the increase for young people fuelled by technology and social media - we looked at the way Coercive Control underpins all relationships where abuse can take place (intimate partners, workplaces, peer groups and families) and helped students to recognise unhelpful behaviours and what to do about if they see them in themselves or others.

Sixth Form - We Are All Culture How can we utilise male leadership to help dismantle unhelpful and unsafe cultures everywhere? “Culture is defined by the worst behaviour we tolerate” (John Amaechi OBE). We looked at the concept of our social circles and how we as individuals can change the culture around us. Calling on leadership skills and attitudes we considered how bystander actions and ‘doing the right things’ can change the cultures we live within for both man and women.

Year 9 & 10 - What Makes A (Hu)Man We looked at stereotypes that we are all subject to, how they can mould our thoughts and behaviours and how we often unconsciously adopt attitudes and beliefs without much thought. Are they helpful and what can we do about them?

Year 10 – Man-Box thinking and narratives of coercive control. Many of the old-style harmful stereotypes of ‘being a man’ aren't helpful for men or the people around us. We looked at the sociological concept of the Man Box (Paul Kivel, Oakland 1990s) and asked ourselves whether other options for how we present ourselves may help us and the people around us.