From the Boys: A co-produced podcast series with William Ellis pupils project launches

By Will Durham
Director of the William Ellis Trust

This project began with a simple but important question: what does it mean to grow up as a teenage boy in Camden in 2026?

This term, Year 10 pupils at William Ellis School have begun an innovative new partnership project with Middlesex University exploring masculinity, identity, and the experiences shaping young men today. Developed collaboratively by the school, the university, and the William Ellis Trust, the project will see up to 16 pupils co-produce a five-episode podcast series sharing their perspectives on growing up in modern London.

In early May, Middlesex University led two days of workshops with pupils to explore the influences, pressures, opportunities, and experiences that help shape their understanding of masculinity. The sessions formed the starting point for a wider programme combining creative work, discussion, and meaningful work experience opportunities.

The recent, and well-deserved, success of the drama Adolescence at the BAFTA’s has brought back into focus national conversations around young men and their sense of masculinity. It is a topic which continues to engage people through documentaries such as Louis Theroux’s exploration of the Manosphere released earlier this year.  

As a debate, however, it is often polarising in its focus and, crucially, lacks the voices and perspective of teenage boys themselves. This project aims to change that. Through the podcast series, William Ellis pupils will explore their own experiences of friendship, pressure, ambition, relationships, education, and growing up in Camden today. The project creates space for young men to speak openly and honestly in their own words, rather than simply being spoken about by adults.

Our approach to working with the future men at William Ellis School is rooted in the ‘Taking Boys Seriously’ principles first developed by Ulster University. It is an approach that is built into much of the work at the school, and which provides a highly useful way of understanding what we know works and guiding an approach that can be useful to all. Some of the key principles the project helps address are;

·       #4 Challenge and affirm masculine identities

·       #7 Connect boys learning to context

·       #8 Engage meaningfully with boys

·       #10 Value the voice of boys.

William Ellis School continues to play an important role locally and nationally in developing effective approaches to boys’ engagement and achievement. The school chairs the Central London Boys’ Impact Hub, bringing together educators from schools across the borough to collaborate on strategies that support boys and raise standards. The Hub forms part of the wider national Boys’ Impact network, which seeks practical solutions to the longstanding challenges around boys’ engagement and educational outcomes.

The project also helps address the growing challenges around securing meaningful and engaging work experience opportunities for pupils. Changing working environments offer many of us greater freedoms, but have the knock-on effect of making it more difficult for employers to host work experience students for a longer period of time. It is a key point in development for young people, offering a first experience of entering the world of work. Through taking part in the project our Year 10 pupils will have the opportunity to;

·       Develop interview and storytelling skills

·       Learn audio production and editing techniques

·       Work alongside academics and media professionals

·       Build confidence, communication and teamwork skills

·       Gain experience of planning and delivering a professional creative project

The project is being led by Dr Helen Bendon, Associate Professor of Film and Media and Interim Head of the School of Film at Middlesex University. In her words “we’re very excited to launch this co-production project with William Ellis School, exploring what it means to be a teenage boy in 2026…At a time of divided opinions about what it means to be a teenage boy, this project gives the boys pracgtical skills in technology, professional work, and media, while highlighting their real-life experiences, concerns, challenges, and hopes to bring their voices to the forefront.”

Izzy Jones, Headteacher at William Ellis, said “the value of our students' voices at the core of this project can't be underestimated. Their articulation, in the design and performance phases, of life as a teenage boy gives this project huge power for the boys themselves, and to inform and stimulate this conversation for their peers and all those who recognise the importance of taking seriously how boys can be supported through adolescence.”

The project has been funded through the Trust’s core budget, donations from supporters of the Rather Use Than Fame Club, an individual alumnus donation, and generous support from the Hadley Trust and the Hampstead Wells and Campden Trust. We are hugely grateful to everyone whose support has helped make this work possible.

Projects like this are only possible because of the generosity of our supporters. If you would like to help us create more innovative opportunities for William Ellis pupils, we would love to hear from you. Please contact Will Durham at wdurham@williamellis.camden.sch.uk for a conversation about supporting the Trust and our future plans.

We look forward to sharing the finished podcasts later this year and welcoming supporters to a launch event in the Autumn term. Most importantly, we are excited to hear this generation of William Ellis pupils tell their own stories in their own words.

You can learn more about the project through the Middlesex University website here.