A GROUP of year 10 ‘wellbeing ambassadors’ at Farnham Heath End School (FHES) have won a national award established in memory of the late Princess of Wales, which recognises young peoples’ contributions to society.

The group of six students were challenged to improve the wellbeing of their peers and help those who are experiencing stress. With support from youth charity, EIKON, which has a youth specialist based at FHES, the students created the ‘Box of Sunshine’, a small box filled with items and information to alleviate stress.

They pitched their idea to many external agencies, including Surrey Police, Surrey Youth Focus, the Clinical Commissioning Group and the Mayor of Farnham, and secured an initial seed funding of £20.

They then went onto successfully secure £2,821 from the Community Foundation for Surrey to mass produce the boxes.

The boxes have now been distributed in nine other secondary schools across Surrey.

Participating students have learnt valuable life skills during the project such as how to work effectively in a team, devise and deliver presentations, and manage a project from conception to delivery.

They are due to collect their award at a central London ceremony in July. The team have also created a film about their initiative, which was launched at the Maltings on June 17.

Principal, Stuart Maginnis, said: “Wellbeing is a huge issue in our schools with young people facing pressures from many different sources, not least social media. We are extremely proud that our young people have worked together to come up with this award- winning idea.

“The fact that is has now been rolled out to nine other schools is validation of its effectiveness.”