Year 5 students at White Cliffs Primary School, Dover explored their compassionate values this Spring term, planning and carrying out their own social action projects with the support of environmental charity Global Action Plan.
One group of children focused on a topical issue, the need to support young asylum seekers. They found out that some children seek safety in the UK without their parents, arriving with little or nothing.
The Year 5 students decided to write messages to show their support to make young refugees feel welcome and also wanted to provide them with equipment to help their learning.
The students decided to take action by filling pencil cases with equipment such as pens, pencils and rulers, and wrapping them up as gifts. They arranged for local charity KRAN (Kent Refugee Action Network) to speak in assembly to the whole school, where they handed over the presents. One pupil reflected afterwards that “I really enjoyed the assembly and meeting the people from KRAN.”
Another group of children were concerned about protecting nature and decided to build bird boxes to place around the school grounds to encourage more birds to visit and take shelter at the school.
They were determined that they wanted to build the boxes themselves instead of buying ready built bird boxes, and thanks to the school caretaker – who oversaw the activity – 7 bird boxes have now been built and installed around the school grounds.
The issue of litter was also raised as a concern, with some of the children worried about plastic entering the River Dour which runs through Dover. They designed posters to highlight the issue and discourage people from dropping litter. Some students took part in a mini litter pick along the school driveway and nearby road and were amazed to fill two bin bags of rubbish in just 45 minutes. The thing they enjoyed most was ‘knowing that I can help others’.
The final project from this busy Year 5 class was a cake sale fundraiser to support another local organisation, the Dover Outreach Centre. Noel Beamish, a representative from the charity, visited the class to explain more about their work and how the money they raised would help to make a difference to people affected by homelessness in the area.
The children showed their compassion and shared reflections such as “I want to help because I feel bad for people that have to go through bad stuff.”
When asked if they would like to get involved in more projects like these in the future, one pupil replied “It’s great fun and you know that you’ve helped the world” and another: “Yes – to change the world!”
White Cliffs Primary School is supported by Liz Hayes, Transform Our World Youth Engagement Practitioner for Kent, supported by #iwillfund and National Lottery Community Fund.
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