YoungShelterBox illustration competition winners meet author Michael Foreman.
2006, ShelterBox has engaged with more than 2,500 schools. That’s around 560,000 young people who have been enthused, we hope, by what we have shown and told them, and who are now a new generation of ambassadors for disaster relief. Our YoungShelterBox website has been viewed more than 170,000 times since January 2010, and its online resources for Key Stages 1-3, including videos, photos and poems, meet many classroom needs. Since the beginning of the partnership between the NAHT and ShelterBox, 451 schools have raised an astonishing £240,869 between them. In addition, every year we run a popular illustration competition with strong support from children’s author and illustrator Michael Foreman. The theme this year focuses on conflict; the title of the book will be The Day the Bombs Fell. It’s Ian Bruce, a head teacher in Cornwall and a National Executive member, who deserves the credit for introducing the two organisations. It was after a ShelterBox presentation at the South-West branch of the NAHT, that Chris Harrison, the Association’s President at the time, chose us as his charity of the year for 2011/12. Russell Hobby, the General Secretary of the NAHT, and the then incoming President Steve Iredale visited ShelterBox’s HQ in Helston in early 2012, and when Steve began his term he also chose to support us. The other reason why schools make great partners is that they are powerhouses of original ideas and enthusiasm.
Here are three school case studies, plucked out of hundreds: • Athersley South Primary School in Yorkshire completed a sponsored ‘danceathon’ last year, raising enough for three ShelterBoxes with the help of their local Rotary Club, which donated a further £338. • Park End Primary School in Middlesbrough raised enough for seven ShelterBoxes in 2012. The local Rotary Club had been helping the children with their reading practice, and to say thank you the school organised a ‘Cape Town to Cairo’ challenge where the equivalent miles were ‘sold’ to teachers, parents and students who were challenged to travel the miles by foot, bike or trike. • Last year Humphry Davy School in Penzance was honoured by ShelterBox as one of the most committed schools in the UK. In three years the school has raised more than £5,000. I’m sure the school leaders of the NAHT will keep up the momentum. Some of their pupils may look favourably on our work, a few may even go on to become fundraisers or volunteers. But I think that most of them will have become just a little more warm-hearted towards those engulfed by disaster. How to get involved Can your pupils bring our disaster story to life? Enter the Young ShelterBox illustration competition, which is open to all UK primary pupils. The competition closes on 24 June. You can also browse the free resources for teachers on our Young ShelterBox website, which helps to explore global issues in the classroom. Or why not ask one of our trained volunteers to bring a ShelterBox to your school and talk to pupils about the importance of disaster relief. www.youngshelterbox.org The NAHT’s charity partner for 2013/14 will be Family Action. See page 13 for details.
YOUNG FUNDRAISERS: JASMINE AND ABIGAIL Two enterprising primary school children have proved that no one is too young to support disaster relief by raising £609, more than enough to pay for a ShelterBox. Jasmine Freeman and Abigail Clifford, both 10, are pupils at Lympstone CE Primary School in Exmouth, Devon. The two girls raised some of the money by masterminding a special session at the end of the school day. The event included games such as ‘guess the name of the teddy’, pick-a-stick, and ‘guess how many sweets in the jar’. Not content with that, they went on to contact local businesses, persuading them to donate more than 30 raffle prizes such as meal vouchers, chocolates and wine. Their next idea was asking parents to get baking for a charity cake sale, followed by convincing the local Harvester restaurant to give half the proceeds of a fundraising event to ShelterBox. The remaining donations were collected from the audience at their school’s nativity play. Both the girls’ fathers are Royal Marine Commandos who have recently served in Afghanistan and Jasmine and Abigail have been touched by the plight of vulnerable people in the developing world.
MARCH/APRIL 2013 ● LEADERSHIP FOCUS
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