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We've had a busy week with 6 of our schools setting off on their Play Your Part days!
Our Play Your Part days are an opportunity for young people to get involved in charitable activities, to understand how charities work and how to make voluntary contributions and give back to your community.
On Thursday we took students from Gumley House School and Hoe Valley School to the Salopian Gardens where they came together to do some gardening, plant flowers and construct cages to protect the plants from animals. A highlight was building the scarecrow! Some students overcame their fear of bugs and spiders, and others did some gardening and construction for the first time.
"We had great fun with the students from Gumley House School at Salopian Gardens! All the girls demonstrated enthusiasm, resilience, a positive attitude and excellent teamwork throughout the day, despite the searing heat. The Coaches all enjoyed spending time with them, and helping them to do some amazing projects including making a scarecrow, building cages to protect plants and gardening. A brilliant day!" – Sarah, Yes Futures Coach
Ten enthusiastic students from Welbourne Primary School made a great contribution in supporting the Chestnuts Community Centre. By working together, exchanging ideas and using their fantastic creativity, students came up with plenty of options for making the Chestnut Community Centre an even better place for young people like them.
Mr. Russel King from Chestnuts Community Centre was truly amazed by the outstanding ideas our students presented to him. The ideas ranged from providing a small library area, climbing wall, water fountain, swimming pool and even a water sling!
55 excited students from Carlton Primary School visited 3Space where they learned about the the negative impact plastic has on our planet. The students came up with great ideas for how we can protect the environment from plastic and reuse products we usually throw away. The students used old plastic bottles to plant their own microplants; reusing plastic and helping the environment in one go - that’s fantastic!
Students from Ratton School travelled up to London City Hall. It was many of the students' first visit to London so they were very excited to spot some of the well known tourist sites! Their task for the day was to tackle a social problem and pitch their ideas to passersby and get their feedback.
"It was a great opportunity for the students to practice their presentation skills and improve their communication and confidence. Students commented that 'London is so busy' and 'there are so many different languages and types of people' which led to an interesting discussion on the differences between people in big cities and smaller towns." – Matthew, Yes Futures Lead Coach
An enthusiastic group of students from Barnhill School visited the Samaritans who provide emotional support for everyone, anytime. Our students learned about physical and emotional health, how you can support and help others and the importance of active listening, a critical communication skill.
‘I learned that sharing, listening to the others and being open to someone’s else ideas is very important when you work in a team and I really liked that’ - Year 8 Student, Barnhill School
The Play Your Part day is an integral part of our Yes Futures programmes. To find out more about the programmes and how we can support your students, please contact Sophie Bartlett: sophie@yesfutures.org