Kennet Valley School reverse advent calendar supports local food bank

For the third year running Kennet Valley C of E VA Primary School are running a reverse advent calendar for children and staff. This means that rather than getting gifts from an advent calendar on the count down to Christmas they give gifts to others.

For the next twenty days (Monday November 9 to Friday December 4) staff, children and parents will bring in a wide selection of food, toiletries, and other essentials to give to the Trussell Trust, which has a base in Devizes.

The Trussell Trust is a fantastic organisation that supports people in our local community. They organise a nationwide network of food banks and provide emergency food and support to people locked in poverty. They also campaign for change to end the need for food banks in the UK.

In previous years the school has collected items over twelve days but this year the decision has been made to extend this to twenty days.  All the children will be asked, if possible, to bring in five items from a suggested list to donate to the charity.  Many of the pupils will bring more than this to school.

Headteacher, Emma Russell, said, “Over the last two years our school community has worked together to support this crucial charity and I am very proud of everyone being involved. It is fantastic to extend our advent calendar so that we are able to collect more in our third year.

We have also been very lucky that our local community has also supported this initiative by bringing items into the school. I am incredibly grateful to residents of our local villages who helped us in the past.

I know that it will be more difficult for local residents to help during the coming lockdown, but we would welcome any donations when lockdown has finished in early December.  All items collected will be taken to Devizes later in that month.”

Teaching Assistant, Miss Harvey, who brought the idea to the school in 2018 said, “At Kennet Valley we all believe that it is vital that our children understand the importance of giving to others as well as receiving gifts during the exciting Christmas Period.”

If you would like to make a donation, please contact the school office on 01672 861202.