SCHOOL children at a York primary have been part of a pioneering new project to help them learn about resilience and well-being.

The pupils at Clifton with Rawcliffe have been on a pilot scheme of the "RWS: Resilience Well-being Success" programme which is also running at two other city schools and in Manchester.

The programme is designed to help the children learn emotional skills that will last a lifetime, and over the last term the children heard from three inspirational women about overcoming extreme obstacles in their lives and working hard for success.

Cancer survivor Jayne Snell spoke to them about well-being, mum Frederika Roberts talked about the importance of resilience, and Paralympic silver medallist Elizabeth Wright told her story of ambition and success.

York Press:

Swimmer Elizabeth Wright speaking to parents at Clifton with Rawcliffe primary school.

Head teacher Andy Herbert said: "Clifton with Rawcliffe is a very special school. Our teaching methods and ethos are designed to equip pupils for life in the 21st century and our state-of-the art premises facilitate this.

"The RWS programme is a fantastic way to support this crucial stage in our pupils’ education and personal development. We are very proud to be not only one of the pilot schools but also to have helped Frederika, Jayne and Elizabeth to shape the programme over the past few months."

While Jayne has herself battled two forms of blood cancer, Frederika has seen her daughters survive two cardiac arrests, three open heart surgeries and countless hospital stays, and Elizabeth achieved her dream of swimming in the Sydney 2000 Paralympics.

Jayne said: "These children are inspirational and I feel so, so lucky to be able to work with them.

"I love RWS and the impact it is having on children already and am very excited about the future and all the schools we're going to be working with."

The programme culminated on Wednesday with an exhibition of the children's projects and talks by the three speakers for parents.

Year 4 pupils also surprised the RWS team and their parents by producing a video summarising what they had learnt and enjoyed over the course of the programme.