Last Thursday, I returned to Crossgates Primary School to see the boys involved in The Hero Within project before they broke up for the summer holidays. It was an important visit for several reasons, particularly because one of the boys will be leaving Crossgates and moving on to secondary school. I wanted the opportunity to see them all together again before that next chapter begins.

A few weeks earlier, Mrs Mitchell, the Headteacher at Crossgates, had contacted me to say that some of the boys had been struggling. I have always said that The Hero Within was never going to be something I delivered, exhibited and then simply walked away from. These children trusted me with their experiences and with parts of themselves that they may not always find easy to communicate. When I heard that some of them were having a difficult time, I wanted to return and hopefully give them a boost before the holidays.

Although Mrs Mitchell was unable to be there on the day, it was great to meet Laura, the school’s Children’s Welfare Officer, for the first time. Because the visit took place so close to the end of term, I did not want the session to feel too formal or become overwhelming for the boys. We decided to move out of the classroom and onto the Reception playground, where they had more freedom and did not have the pressure of sitting through another structured lesson.

The boys had plenty of fun running around in the warm weather and playing on the Reception apparatus while I spoke to each of them under the shade of the trees. It created a much more relaxed environment and allowed them to answer the questions in their own time. I could still have that important one-to-one time with each boy without the session feeling like another task they had to complete.

I began by telling them what had been happening with the project since they last saw me. The Hero Within originally brought together six neurodivergent boys from Crossgates for an eight-week programme. Each child created elements of his own superhero character based on his personality, interests and experiences. I then took their paintings, drawings and ideas and transformed them into finished pieces of artwork using the Picsart app on my phone.

Once completed, each character was printed onto Perspex and professionally framed before being revealed to the boys and their families by the Mayor of Rochdale Borough Council at a private presentation. Each child also received a personalised certificate supported by Crossgates Primary School, Loveartpix and Picsart.

The full collection was later publicly exhibited at Piccadilly Place in Manchester. This gave people outside the school the opportunity to see the children represented through their own imaginations, rather than through the difficulties or labels that are so often placed upon them.

The response from the boys, their families and the school spoke volumes from the beginning. They were not simply looking at fictional superheroes displayed on easels. They were seeing their own ideas taken seriously and presented professionally. They could recognise parts of themselves within the finished characters.

For children who regularly experience correction or feel that they do not quite fit within the school environment, being represented in that way can be incredibly powerful. The focus was not on asking them to become somebody different. It was about helping them see that the qualities already within them were worth celebrating.

During this latest visit, I explained that I now have bigger plans for their characters. I want to animate the avatars so that they can speak and introduce themselves directly. Rather than me or somebody else explaining who they are, the boys own words will shape what each character says.

This will allow the avatars to find their voices, but more importantly, those voices will come directly from the children who created them. The animation will make the project more immersive while giving the boys even greater ownership over what we have developed together.

I had prepared questions about what they liked most about their characters, what made their heroes strong and how they would use their abilities to help other people. I went through these with them individually while the others played nearby. 

Some of their answers genuinely surprised me. There were the usual funny comments that made us laugh, but there were also some really thoughtful and heartfelt responses. The answers showed how much meaning the boys had put into their characters, even when they may not have realised it at the time they first created them.

That is one of the reasons I believe creative programmes like this are so important. Children will sometimes communicate something through an idea, a picture or an imaginary character before they feel able to explain it directly about themselves.

Their superhero can show a confidence they may not yet know how to express for themselves. It can show what they believe makes somebody strong or how they would like the world to see them. When those ideas are treated seriously, children are given another way to express who they are.

It was really good to see the boys again. We caught up, had a laugh and the teachers took some photographs of us together.The afternoon was relaxed, which was exactly how I wanted it, but the most important part for me was that the boys knew I had come back for them. They knew they had not been forgotten once the original programme and exhibition had finished, and that The Hero Within was still continuing with them at the centre of it.

One of the parents messaged me after school and said that as soon as her son saw her, he immediately told her “Dez came to see me today.”

She explained that when she usually asks him how his day has been, he will often just say it was okay or shrug his shoulders. The fact that this was the first thing he wanted to tell her meant a lot to me. It showed that the visit had mattered to him, even though he may not always find it easy to express how he feels about his day.

The influence of The Hero Within has also begun to reach beyond the original programme. Rossella Sorte, a lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, spoke about the way the project creates a different narrative around autism by supporting the children’s confidence and creating a stronger sense of community for them and their families. She also said that she would like to see the programme introduced into more schools.

My connection with Rossella has since developed into us collaborating together to help shape training around healthcare at Manchester Metropolitan University. We are bringing lived experience into professional education and looking at how neurodivergent people can be better understood.

That development shows how something that began with six boys in a primary school can influence conversations far beyond the original classroom. The experiences behind the project are now contributing to how future professionals may be taught to understand neurodivergence and the people behind the diagnosis.

From Crossgates to Parliament

What began at Crossgates is now opening doors I never expected it to. A formal proposal has now been put forward to take the exhibition into Parliament at the House of Commons, and we are working through how the project will be presented within that space.

The conversation is no longer simply about whether the project belongs there. The focus is now on how best to present the boys’ framed characters alongside the story behind the programme and the impact it has already had.

For me, this is not about taking children’s artwork into Parliament simply for the sake of saying it has been there. It is about placing the experiences of neurodivergent children inside a building where decisions affecting education, SEND provision and their futures are made.

These characters began as paintings, drawings and conversations inside Crossgates Primary School. They have since been transformed into professional artwork, publicly exhibited and are now being developed into animated avatars using the boys own words. The fact that the collection is also being prepared for Parliament shows what can happen when children’s ideas are taken seriously and given the platform they deserve.

The Hero Within project has been an absolute pleasure to create, but I also feel a responsibility towards what it has become. When you create something that has the potential to make genuine societal change, I believe it is your duty to continue listening and finding the right ways for it to reach further.

The original eight-week programme may have finished, but my connection with the boys, their families and Crossgates has not. I have built a genuinely meaningful relationship with the school, and I know that will continue to grow because Mrs Mitchell and I share the same values when it comes to neurodivergent children.

We both believe that these children deserve to be understood properly and given opportunities that recognise who they are, rather than only focusing on the areas in which they may struggle. That shared belief is one of the reasons the relationship with Crossgates has become much more than a single programme.

The next stage will bring the avatars to life and allow the boys to explain who their heroes are in their own words. It may also take the programme into new schools and spaces I could never have imagined when it began.

However, the purpose remains rooted in the same place. I want neurodivergent children to recognise themselves in something positive and know that the adults around them are prepared to listen.

The Hero Within began with six boys creating characters in a classroom.The characters may have begun in a classroom, but the voices behind them are now carrying further than any of us could have imagined.