The children at Kennet Valley C of E School embraced the spirit of Christmas giving this year by collecting donations of food for Love Marlborough Kids Meal. This local charity delivers a hot cooked meal once a week, together with extra groceries, to those families who would welcome some support.
Headteacher, Katie Mallinson, said that one of the things that most impressed her when she joined the school in September was the community spirit of both staff, pupils and their families.
“Our three values are Curiosity, Courage and Compassion, but having now settled into this wonderful school, I’m seriously considering adding Community. The staff and children were keen to keep up their tradition of giving to those in need and we started our Kennet Christmas Kindness collection in early December. The children have been putting leaflets though doors and we have been overwhelmed with the support, not only from families with children at our school, but from the wider community who have been so generous with their donations.
The donations were collected by Love Marlborough Kids Meals on the last day of term and they were overwhelmed by the amount of goods that had been collected. The school had been given a shopping list and the charity were particularly delighted with the amount of children’s chocolate gifts that had been donated.”
Katie Mallinson is also keen to publicise the Communitea that one of the school’s Year 6 pupils has introduced. “Every other Friday at 3pm we invite the local community to come and join us for a cup of tea. We love the fact that so many local people have accepted our invitation. It’s a great way to stay connected to the community. We also invited the local residents to come and see the dress rehearsal of our spectacular nativity, and some of the younger children helped decorate the Christmas tree on the Dene in Lockeridge. We are always thinking of ways to build on our relationship with the community, the children love this aspect of their school life and we will definitely be continuing it in 2024, in fact our first Communitea will be on 4th January when we are looking forward to opening our doors to our lovely community again.”