Making a difference: The variety of community support that we generate together focusses the schools’ generosity of spirit and highly contagious energy that is shown throughout the year. Community Action Week offers all children the opportunity to positively support their local communities and know that they are making a difference; planning and activities encourage attention and engagement whilst also offering many educational benefits - from a new perspective. So much of the work that takes place around CAW offers lessons that can’t be learned from a book.

Learning life skills: CAW allows the pupils to learn new skills such as generating ideas - working out what’s feasible and what might be impractical. These assessments lead to short-listing of activities that need planning, roles allocating, and sometimes even fundraising or budgeting. Managing the week’s projects, implementing every aspect and seeing the impact of their actions is so important – what great grounding for their futures! The pupils learn about the practicalities of working together as a team, understanding and playing to their strengths, and seeing something through from beginning to end. Often the relationships created within the community don’t end after their week of volunteering, they continue long afterwards. 

Small gestures: Alongside the bigger picture of organising activities, the pupils also see the wonder in the smallest of actions, and experience, first-hand, how doing something nice can inspire happiness and positivity.

A snapshot of our achievements

Abbey Hill Primary and Nursery School: Our thoughtful pupils combined their particular focus on sustainability by recycling some of their own toys - making use of good quality items that they no longer needed themselves. Working in partnership with the charity ‘Bags of Blessings’ the school collectively secured over one hundred playthings. Bags of Blessings has an established relationship with Abbey Hill Primary and Nursery School and has previously given Christmas toys, Easter eggs, hygiene packs and hundreds of books to the school. An Abbey Hill pupil explained “It’s really great to be able to give back to people who have been so generous to our school in the past”.

Headteacher Adam Jevons-Newman said “Knowing that our school community has shown such tremendous empathy fills me with pride, which is one of our school values. I’m grateful to the community for supporting our ambition to give back to Bags of Blessings.”

Allenton Community Primary School: Year 3 pupils were creative in their approach, painting beautiful ‘positivity rocks’ and hiding them in their Derby neighbourhood, as a lovely surprise for the people who found them! Other years completed a mix of activities including a Scooter Wash fundraiser; book donations for the Children’s Book Project; older pupils set themselves up as reading buddies with Year 2s; and another group went litter picking whilst walking to swimming lessons. The Year 4 Hedgehogs gathered donations for Hope Centre Foodbank in Derby. They visited other classrooms around the school to complete their haul – and then spent some time discussing and reflecting on how the food donation might benefit others.

 

Brierley Forest Primary and Nursery School: The Children’s Parliament and School Council members channelled their efforts into a local care home - diligently improving its outside area through tidying, planting and other gardening endeavours such as starting a compost bin. They also imaginatively set up a reading circle to entertain its elderly residents. Going forward, the caring pupils are continuing their efforts by raising funds for residents’ activities by making and selling crafts. This is a great example of extending the week’s focus into a longer-term relationship. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zaytouna Primary School: Zaytouna pupils supported the charity ‘Children First Derby’ with a cake sale and non-uniform day. They, like Allenton, also opted to tidy up locally by doing a litter picking session, what a tidy bunch we all are!

Pear Tree Community Junior School: The Pear Tree children championed sustainability by organising an extremely popular uniform sale, raising money and benefiting the school’s families who were able to buy donated uniforms for 50p per item!

Teams from Trust Central responded to a variety of bids submitted by all the schools. They put together teams to respond to four winning binds and pitched in to help in a number of ways.

Lawn Primary School: The trust team undertook a variety of cleaning, painting and planting missions across the school to brighten and improve its overall appearance.

Cantrell Primary School: The winning bid earned Cantrell a wildflower and sunflower garden. “We’re dreaming of giant sunflowers, buzzing bees and big smiles” (the bid was submitted via a wonderful video starring some impressive up-and-coming presenters).

Edale Primary School: The trust worked on restoring its pond for forest schools, science lessons and wildlife observation.

King Edward Primary School: The trust team worked with the school on the development of an OPAL play area to encourage safe and positive play.

At Transform Trust we get involved in Community Action Week because it's a cornerstone of who we are. It’s more than a week of volunteering. Through it, we live our core values of Kindness, Respect, Equity, Creativity, and bring tangible benefits across our school family and the wider community. It’s an opportunity for everyone within the Transform Trust community to look outwards and think about what needs doing, who needs support, how we can make a real difference. That’s got to be good for everyone hasn’t it.