Shelf is a voluntary organisation created with the aim of bringing new levels of

sexual health Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is a field of research, health care, and social activism that explores the health of an individual's reproductive system and sexual well-being during all stages of their life. Sexual and reproductive healt ...

awareness to young people of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It is unique in that it was founded by four Year 10 students of

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

in April 2007 and is still currently owned and operated by them. It was founded with support from members of Peterborough City Council and the Peterborough

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

Primary Care Trust Primary care trusts (PCTs) were part of the National Health Service in England from 2001 to 2013. PCTs were largely administrative bodies, responsible for commissioning primary, community and secondary health services from providers. Until 31 May ...

. Shelf runs via a website and distributed brochures containing information on sexual health and links to local support organisations.

History

Shelf was originally created as a business idea to be entered into "The Big Deal", a national business and enterprise challenge run by the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth (NAGTY). The competition ran over 10 weeks, and required groups of students (aided by a mentor) to produce a business idea by completing weekly tasks. Over 30 groups entered the competition and then presented their ideas to a panel of judges, in the style of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's ''

Dragons' Den ''Dragons' Den'' is a reality television program format in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing investment finance from them. The program originated in 2001 in Japan, where it ...

'', at an event held at

Aston Business School Aston Business School (ABS), is an international business school part of Aston University in Birmingham, England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Gre ...

in July 2007. The four best groups then presented their ideas again to all competitors and judges. "Team

Joey Joey may refer to: People *Joey (name) Animals * Joey (marsupial), an infant marsupial * Joey, a blue-fronted Amazon parrot who was one of the Blue Peter pets Film and television * ''Joey'' (1977 film), an American film directed by Horace ...

"–named after the character in the US TV sitcom ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...

''–presented Shelf and won the competition. The prize was a fully funded five-star trip to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

which took place in October 2007. As well as sightseeing, the students (accompanied by two teachers and a member of staff from the University of Warwick, England) visited the

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

offices, where they presented their ideas once more. Staff were "said to have been extremely impressed". An additional prize of the funding necessary to start up the enterprise was personally offered by Glenn Earle (chief managing director of

Investment Bank Europe).

Service launch

In December 2008, Shelf established links with members of the Peterborough NHS Primary Care Trust (CaSH), Peterborough City Council and DrinkSense to discuss how best the services could be implemented and run alongside what was already in place in Peterborough. In January 2008, a full trial of the website was run for Year 11 students (aged 15–16) in

Jack Hunt School Jack Hunt School, officially Jack Hunt School Language College, is a co-educational secondary school and sixth form located in Netherton in the city of Peterborough in the United Kingdom. Students are aged 11 (Year 7) to 18 ( Year 13). Refurbis ...

, from which feedback was ascertained, aiding the development of the website. Following further funding from The Youth Bank of Peterborough City Council, the website was officially launched on 19 March 2008. A publicised media event was held inviting representatives from across the UK. Local

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

and magazine coverage later followed.

Redesign

An updated, newly designed multi-platform version of Shelf (2.0) went live on 18 July 2009 after three months of development and contribution by and from students. Search facilities, local service links and embedded content were added to leave room for future development and expansion.

References

{{Reflist British educational websites Health education in the United Kingdom Human sexuality organizations Organisations based in Peterborough