A fundraising campaign by the pupils, staff and parents of West Coker C of E VC Primary School has raised enough money to fund 110 SchoolBags destined for poor, orphan, vulnerable and disaster affected children around the world.
The campaign which raised funds for the Piers Simon Appeal’s School in a Bag initiative ran alongside a module of work where students learned about natural disasters. Spearheaded by teacher Cait Crisp, who herself got stuck into the action by completing a solo 4000m sponsored swim set an ambitious target of funding one SchoolBag per pupil in the school.
Teacher Cait said, “At a cost of £15 per SchoolBag our aim was to try and raise £1200 – enough for each of our 80 pupils to pack their own SchoolBag. We knew that immediately after Christmas it would be a tall order so our campaign included a series of events to chip away at the total”
Along side the swim, additional events included – a sponsored dance-athon that raised over £500, a cake sale, a village jumble sale, a household chores for donations scheme and a pupil driven collection at Morrison’s Supermarket in Yeovil. West Coker also took part in recycling inkjet cartridges and old mobile phones through the recycle4charity organisation and this added a further £64 to the total helping them exceed their target by a brilliant £450 or 30 SchoolBags!
On Thursday March 8 the pupils and staff at West Coker packed their 110 SchoolBags and each student had a portrait photo taken with their SchoolBag.
Charity Liaison Officer for the Piers Simon Appeal said, “We are all completely thrilled that the campaign put together by Cait and the school has proven so effective both financially and educationally. The School in a Bag ethos of ‘Giving Hope to a Child’s Future’ was certainly instilled in the fundraising pupils throughout the campaign and this was wholly apparent when they packed their SchoolBags. The efforts by everyone involved at West Coker Primary School really has set the year off wonderfully well”
