Leavers Legacy

At Western House Academy, we want our pupils to know that they can make a difference — not only while they are with us, but long after they have moved on.

Our Leave a Legacy initiative gives our Year 6 pupils the opportunity to create something meaningful that will benefit future generations of children at WHA and, in some cases, our wider community.

Each year, our Head Pupils lead their year group on a special project, gathering ideas, listening to their peers and working together to decide how they would like to leave their mark. From developing the initial idea through to bringing their vision to life, pupils take ownership of creating a legacy that will continue long after they leave WHA.

Leave a Legacy is about much more than leaving something physical behind. It provides our oldest pupils with a genuine opportunity to demonstrate leadership, teamwork, ambition, courage and social responsibility. Most importantly, it shows our children that their ideas matter and that they have the power to make a positive difference.

Our Leave a Legacy Projects

^{📚 Reading Swap Boxes}

Our pupils introduced Reading Swap Boxes on the playground, giving children the opportunity to bring, swap and share books. Their legacy continues to promote a love of reading while making books easily accessible for children to enjoy and share with one another.

^{🏆 Developing Our House System} 

Our pupils helped to develop the WHA House System, creating something that has become an important part of school life. The House System provides opportunities for children across different year groups to work together, celebrate achievements and develop an even stronger sense of belonging to the WHA community.

🤝 ^{Learning and Teaching Makaton}

One year group chose to make WHA an even more inclusive place by learning Makaton and teaching it to children across the school. Their project helped pupils understand that there are many different ways to communicate and reinforced the importance of inclusion and ensuring that everyone's voice can be heard.

^{🌱 Community Allotment Project}

Our Year 6 pupils took their Leave a Legacy initiative beyond the school gates through a community project to develop an allotment. The project created an opportunity for pupils to think about how they could make a positive and lasting contribution to the wider community.

Through their involvement, pupils explored sustainability, growing food and caring for the environment, while recognising the importance of contributing to and caring for the community around them.

^{🌿 Developing an Outdoor Learning Space}

Our most recent Year 6 cohort chose to leave their mark on WHA by helping to develop an open outdoor space for learning.

Their vision was to create an inspiring and flexible area where children could take their learning beyond the classroom, providing opportunities to learn, explore, collaborate and enjoy being outdoors.

This project will provide a lasting learning environment that can be enjoyed by children across WHA for many years to come. It is a wonderful example of our Year 6 pupils thinking beyond their own time at the school and creating something that will benefit the pupils who follow in their footsteps.

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Every Leave a Legacy project is different because every Year 6 cohort brings its own ideas, passions and personality. Some leave behind a physical space, others introduce a new skill or opportunity, and some create something that becomes embedded in everyday school life.

Together, these projects are becoming part of the history and story of Western House Academy.

Leave a Legacy brings our school motto, “Where every opportunity shapes a life,” to life. By giving our pupils the opportunity to lead meaningful change, we hope they leave WHA knowing that they have a voice, their actions matter and they have the power to make a positive difference wherever they go.

Their time at WHA may come to an end, but their legacy lives on.