Imayla reconnecting and rewilding

The hard work of Montpelier primary school St Barnabas CE VC Primary School during the Covid-19 pandemic has been recognised by a national education award. On Friday 22nd January 2021St Barnabas was announced as the winner of the Covid-19 Response Champion in the Schools and Colleges (International) category at the education trade show BettFest 2021.

The BettFest awards paid tribute to companies and schools whose response to the Covid-19 outbreak had positive impacts on the education, health and wellbeing of the student population, with the Albany Road primary school forging partnerships throughout the surrounding St Pauls and Montpelier community to respond to the challenges of the pandemic.

Partnership with FareShare South West and donations from members of the local community, and from the school’s own staff, meant that the school could set up and run a food bank feeding around 30 families each week from the very first lockdown in March 2020. The foodbank is still up and running after moving to St Werburgh’s Community Centre when the school fully reopened in September 2020. Alongside community donations, the foodbank has been supported until the 31st March 2021 by funding from United Housing Association and Solon Housing Association.

“The food bank is really beneficial and I never thought you could get something like that from a primary school”, comments local mum, Lori. “It’s amazing, you don’t judge anyone who goes in and uses it.”

Once St Barnabas had ensured that no pupil would go hungry, the focus turned to bridging the digital divide. Members of the congregation of St Agnes church, in St Pauls, were among those who donated funds to help ensure that that all St Barnabas children had the laptops they needed to learn at home. Local data disposal firm, Byteback, played a huge part in recycling laptops which were generously donated by IT software company Epic for the pupils’ use.

Debbie Fisher, Co-Headteacher at St Barnabas, said: “Covid-19 has presented many challenges to schools across the country but St Barnabas has built on the tradition of unity and solidarity in its communities to meet those challenges and succeed.” “Our staff have worked tirelessly during the last 12 months to make sure children can learn, whether they are with their teachers in the school or learning at home during lockdowns.” Everyone at St Barnabas is immensely proud to have won the BettFest 2021 Covid-19 Response Champion Award and very grateful to all members of the local community who have generously donated to the school, both practically and financially, throughout the pandemic. The school and St Werburgh’s Community Centre are currently looking for funding to sustain the much needed foodbank into the summer months and beyond so please do contact St Barnabas on stbarnabasp@bristol-schools.uk if you are able to help.

In-person mental health support opening in Central Bristol

Bristol based community mental health charity, Changes Bristol is excited to announce the opening of an in-person peer support group in Central Bristol. This group will be held on a weekly basis, every Friday afternoon from 3pm - 5pm at the Unitarian Meeting Hall, Brunswick Square, BS2 8P.

Changes Bristol is a community based mental health charity that provides free peer support groups to help improve people’s mental wellbeing. Currently, they are running ten online support groups every week, five in-person groups across South Bristol and also provide telephone befriending for people who need a one to one service.

Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, Changes Bristol were quick to turn around their physical peer support groups over to an online format in order to continue the service safely.

In a recent member survey, the charity found that although 100% of their members found that Changes Bristol had a positive impact on their mental health, a return to physical groups would be welcomed with one member commenting “The online format is not comparable in terms of experience for me”