COMMUNITY ACTION IN ACTION

Reptonians have been out and about engaging with the wider community and supporting local groups.

Village Caf

For our community action we chose to volunteer at the Maple Tree Café in the Repton Village Hall. This space is well-used by community groups and also provides a great social venue for village residents, especially valuable to those who might otherwise be isolated. Every Wednesday we help by doing things such as washing dishes, grating cheese and chocolate, re-stocking the fridge, filling up sugar pots, putting away the furniture and occasionally making hot drinks. Whilst these things are super-fun and certainly useful, the café management thought we could do something that required more skills! So we created a leaflet to promote the café, which has now been distributed around Repton. We enjoy our volunteering because we can get real satisfaction from getting to know members of the local community and making a positive contribution to village life.

Charity Group Primary School

Being part of the charity group has been really worthwhile for us and a fantastic experience. We have worked together as a team to come up with new initiatives and also taken requests from various members of staff and individuals in the community.

The group has been working together for some time and raised several thousands of pounds for local and national work, many of which are closely linked to students or staff members at the school. In Lent alone we raised nearly £2000 for very worthy causes, by multiple coffeeshop openings, a visit from

Project D, and home clothes day for the earthquake crises in Syria and Turkey and other needed charities. Beauty and the Beast and the sale of roses for Valentine’s Day have also contributed to our fundraising.

Not only that but we have learned to crochet octopi for premature babies with the help of a visiting expert and we have collected hockey equipment for schools through a brilliant local scheme. Currently, we are working on assembling care packages for local branches of the YMCA.

Sam P (L6O) and Vladyslav K (L6S)

Our community action has been helping the children at Repton Primary School every week with their reading. It's been a great experience assisting the teachers and the kids, and seeing how much they improve and grow more confident each week. We chose primary school reading for our Community Action because we felt it was important for every child to have an opportunity to improve on their reading and be able to ask someone questions about any topic if their teacher is busy, especially with additional pressures like the strikes that's been going on. We hope we've been able to have a real impact on the kids we helped, and that they've gained an interest in reading.

Sergei A and Adam N (L6P)

Christmas Fayre

The inaugural Christmas Fayre took place under the Arch on the first weekend of December. There was a real sense of community on this occasion and it was just wonderful to see the whole community of staff, pupils, parents and members of the village coming together to enjoy this festive occasion. Highlights were seeing the School Prefects, dressed as elves, leading in Santa’s workshop before the children went through to meet Santa in his special grotto; listening to the Repton musicians play Christmas music on the Pears School stage; and watching everyone enjoy festive food from the outside market stalls. It was great too to

Hospice Shop

be joined by so many stall holders, allowing us to start our Christmas shopping! Importantly, this was a charity fundraising event and there were two examples of pupils leading stalls to raise money for specific charities: Lawrence R raised £195 for Burton Hope with his sweet and hot chocolate stall, while Kitty, Cam B and Alice P made £230 for projects in Tanzania with their bookstall. We look forward to more pupil and community involvement this coming December and hope the Christmas Fayre will become a favourite fixture in the school calendar.

AFP

Green Team

The Green Team have been helping to rewild Repton. With the support of our marvellous Grounds team, they have cleared a whole area behind the Sandbased Astro, creating wildlife houses, putting up nesting boxes, laying a woodland path and planting over 2,000 bulbs. They also continue to facilitate effective recycling of paper, plastic and glass all around the school site.

SABT

We have been volunteering at the local Treetops Hospice shop at the Willington Services as part of our Community Action programme. Treetops is a local charity, providing nursing care and emotional support for anyone in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire affected by a life-limiting illness and by bereavement in this area. This benefits the community in several positive ways. We help to money through the Hospice shop; it provides more affordable clothing and other household items for those who are struggling with the cost of living; and it also allows families to declutter the home, recycle and reuse clothes in a sustainable way. We have gained great work experience through volunteering at the Hospice shop, all the while having fun and working hard, which will improve our own CVs in the future.

Harry E (L6O)