5 minute read
Community Service
Rosemary Woo Upper VI Ritual'
Miles Baker Upper VI "Still Life" Rosemary Woo Upper VI Sketchbook
EloiseAtkin Lower VI Sketchbook
Sarah welsh Lower VI Sketchbook
Pricilla Kong Upper VI Sketchbook
Pippa Bailey V "Body Parts" Priscilla Cong, Upper VI
Alex England "Self", V Form Amanda Holmes Upper VI
Community Service Report
This year has seen a successful mix of new projects with tried and tested ones, with an ever-increasing number of pupils keen to be involved.
11 sixth formers have been working loosely with the Wilberforce trust, befriending residents and visiting them on a regular basis, and everyone has made the most of the partnership. The Trust has presented our pupil volunteers with certificates of appreciation as part of National Volunteers Week and our congratulations go to Brook Adams, Jonathan Butterworth, Georgie Duke, Alex Howard, Marie Hyslop, Sally Madaren, Charlie Simpson, Aimee Sturgess, Joseph Tang, Hannah Thomas and Sarah Welsh.
We were very pleased to celebrate with Brook Adams, Aimee Sturgess and Joseph Tang when they became the first St. Peter's pupils to receive awards form the York Millennium volunteers Trust at a special ceremony in recognition of their sustained and dedicated commitment to their volunteering. Brook and Aimee also received this year's Old Peterite Lodge Prizes for Community
Service at Commemoration.
Many other sixth formers have also used their time to work alongside individuals with special needs. James Bennett, Paul Rushton and Robin Johnson had a great time assisting at Northfield
Special School while Tom Hubbard, Claire Hunt, Alice Lindley, Primrose Lovett, Sally Maclaren and Jacob Smith have been involved with SNAPPY, helping with play schemes and clubs.
Our links with Fothergil Homes are as strong as ever. In December we hosted our extremely popular Christmas party, this time including guests from Guardian Court and St Luke's as well, and everyone enjoyed an evening of Christmas songs, music and carols, along with festive games.
Our partnership with the Minster Lions has flourished. As well as the increasingly successful Rudolph Appeal, when over 50 luxury hampers and 30 other gifts were delivered in time for Christmas, we found ourselves absorbed in another Lions project, Message in a Bottle. The school was delighted to receive a new prize this year. The Minster Lions have given us a rosebowl to be presented annually to a pupil who shows commitment and initiative for community action. The pupil will also receive a salver to keep as a memento, and a cheque for £100 to fund a community project. This year the prize is awarded to Chloe Johnson who has been very generous in giving her time to a whole range of projects and who is an inspiration in her organisation of the Rudolph Appeal in particular. Along with Jayne Milburn, Chloe has been awarded a place on the Community Matters national conference in Manchester-congratulations to both girls.
We have had several groups of pupils involved with fundraising and community issues, some as part of their Duke of Edinburgh service and others because they are interested in being more involved. We are always on the lookout for a new challenge, and there is no shortage of enthusiasm to volunteer.
The ARClight Project
ARClight is a charity devoted to a cause, successfully helping those on the streets, the homeless, individuals on drugs and those who need help to reshape their lives.
Our group of fourth years (Piers Denison, Hamish Batchelor, Adam Hinchdiffe, Josh Dobbins, Tom Slingsby, Duncan Turnbull, Terence Mak, Sam Farquharson) and fifth years (Emma Hammill, Kirsty Dallas, Sorrel Gaunt, Laura Howard and Lorna Emery) have managed to accumulate over £800 to use in support of ARClight. In the Easter term our team worked as waiters, publicity officers, photographic assistants etc. at a school function which raised a substantial amount of money. Some of this will be used to buy food with which we shall cook meals to be served at the ARClight shelter in the Autumn, whilst the remainder will sponsor the ARClight programme of supplying packed lunches for those who have found some part time employment in York through ARClight's support workers.
The Peter's team firmly believes that this is not a short term project. When we leave school we really hope to encourage others to take our place and make this a long term commitment. This direct involvement is what community service is all about and we are determined to make it happen.
We would like to thank all of those parents, friends and staff who have organized this and we look forward to their ongoing help, advice and encouragment.
Message In a Bottle
In October pupils at St. Peter's school were invited to take part in a scheme that could potentially save lives.
The Message in a Bottle scheme was organised by Lara Gibbs and myself in association with the Minster Lions. Over ten thousand bottles were filled with medical information for the emergency treatment of patients.
The scheme was devised by the Lions in order to notify paramedics, called out to an emergency, of any allergies or special treatment that the patients may require. A sticker inside the front door informs emergency crews about the information, and the relevant bottle is stored inside the fridge. The hard work has proved to be a success: one hundred pupils worked for five hours over two nights packing the bottles, and we refused to give up until all 10,000 were finished.
The launch during October half term, attended by the Lord Mayor of York, was hailed as a great step forward in the care and support of the elderly and vulnerable in the York area. We were very proud to hold the launch at St. Peter's and since then the scheme has gone national!
Claire Hunt, LVI
The Glen Project
With some degree of apprehension we started to plan a project to improve the garden facilities at The Glen. Our hope was to produce a colourful and sensory garden for the residents, many of whom are visually and physically impaired. Generous funding from the Local Network Fund allowed us to really get stuck into the work. All twenty eight of us had a great week digging, planting, painting and building. As an antidote to GCSE exams it was great fun. It was a steep learning curve from a disorganised Monday to a most gratifying handover on Friday. We could not have achieved our goal without the huge amount of help given by the Minster Lions and the maintenance department at school. Paul Wright, whose advise was fantastic , deserves a special mention. In the end we felt that it was a week very well spent and frankly more use than the exams that went before.
The Glen Project Team
