Care in the Community Ethos at Therfield First School

At Therfield First School, we highly value being part of a close-knit, village community.  In turn, the local village is proud to have our school set within it.  A big part of our school ethos is in enabling our pupils to recognise the positive impact that they can have on those around them.  This includes those within our immediate school community, those in the local area and those in the wider world.  We undertake many opportunities to make a positive impact to others through our numerous 'Making a Difference' projects, valuing the important gift of giving.  Our children quickly recognise how good they feel when they can make a difference to others.  The many ways in which we do this includes:

* Annual Harvest Gift-of-Giving village community project

* Monthly GAP sessions - 'Generations at Play' in the local chapel

Half termly visits to the local Age UK's '10 to 3' club

* Regular visits to sing to the elderly at local nursing homes

* Litter picking in the school grounds and across the village

* Purchasing, making and donating items for children in deprived areas of the world 

We also make maximum use of our idyllic village setting as part of our Bringing Learning to Life school motto.  We regularly visit the local church for special services and to perform our Christmas Nativity in.  Classes take part in local walks to provide a practical real-life backdrop to learning.  We regularly engage with the village residents to support our learning, i.e. canvassing views via questionnaires and inviting villagers into school to share our learning with them.  We are also exceptionally lucky to be visited each week by our reading dog, who lives within the local village.  

Read below to find out a little more about each of the above.

Harvest - Annual 'Gift-of-Giving' Project

Introduced by the Headteacher in 2015, every October, the whole school takes part in our Harvest Gift-of-Giving project.  During this time, all children are involved in making 'gifts' in huge quantities.  Previous examples of these have included posies of flowers, cupcakes, shortbread, cookies, muffins, brownies and over 500 scones! (for an afternoon tea gift package).  Once made, the children are involved in bagging the items, writing personalised tags and wrapping everything together with 'Therfield' purple ribbon.  The gifts always look amazing.  The next day, in small groups, the children hand-deliver the gifts to every house in the village - that's over 180 gifts made and delivered!  Our children greet the residents with smiley faces and cheers of 'Happy Harvest'.  In response, we are inundated with phone calls, emails and cards of Thanks from the villagers, often hand-written directly to the child that made their package.  Our children get a real sense of pride for making a difference to someone's day and recognise the positive impact that a gesture, gift or smiley face can have on others.  Harvest is one of our most celebrated and much-loved times of the year.   

GAP (Generations at Play)

Monthly GAP sessions were introduced by the Headteacher in 2016, in collaboration with the village Chapel, located directly opposite the school.  For one hour, during the first Wednesday of the month, a year group of children at a time would make their way over to the Chapel to play traditional board games and puzzles with the more elderly or isolated members of the local community.  During the session, the children enjoy great inter-generational conversations with the many attendees.  A particular highlight is stopping for a cup of tea or hot chocolate, accompanied by a homemade cake or biscuit, curtesy of the Chapel volunteers.  It was always an absolute joy to see GAP in action.  Both children and attendees gain so much from these sessions.  What a brilliant way to boost everyone's wellbeing through the gift of time, attention and presence.  Throughout the year, each year group of pupils have numerous opportunities to attend and lead the GAP sessions.  

Litter Picking

We take great pride in our school and in looking after the environment.  To support this, our Year 4 Eco-Warriors regularly litter pick across the school grounds.  Half termly, they extend this beyond the school gates by litter picking across the village.  This is a highly anticipated activity and our young leaders feel very proud when they come back to school brandishing full bags of items that can now be recycled.  Duckpuddle pupils also engage in this activity during their topic 'Our Village'.  Litter picking is just one of the many pledges that they make to support them in earning their Green Blue Peter badges.  

This activity is recognised and celebrated by the residents who live in the local village.  Often, a high number of our pupils will join the villagers when they organise their village litter picking session on a Saturday morning.  Would you believe it that a number of our children have previously added a Litter Picker to their birthday or Christmas wish list!  

Local Therapy Dog in School

We are ecstatic to be visited weekly by our wonderful reading dog.  Our love of reading, combined with our love of doggies, really is the most perfect match.  Introduced back in 2017, we have had the pleasure of two reading dogs in school.  Firstly, the gorgeous Goldendoodle Alfie and secondly, Luna.  Both dogs have loved listening to our children read as much as the children have loved reading to them.  Our children are always very excited when it is their turn to read and all children have at least one half term reading weekly with our special furry friend. Our reading dogs soon become like a school mascot and they can regularly be spotted at our many in and out-of-school events, usually sporting a purple Therfield jumper or vest!

Global Support

Wherever possible, we try to make a difference to the wider community too.  In recent years, this has included forming a relationship with a school in South Africa as part of Rooks Nest's 'Making a Difference' topic.  Not only did they make connections through writing letters and sending videos about our school experiences, but as a school we were able to fundraise money to send the school six iPads, writing and drawing equipment, educational posters and provided financial support for pupils to receive additional 1:1 tutoring.  

We have also collected donations of food, clothes and furniture, which were shipped as part of a larger consignment to an orphanage and school in Ghana.  

We instigated a collection to support those impacted by the war in Ukraine.  We extended our collection to the local community and were overwhelmed by the donations given by parents, staff and the local villagers.  

We have taken part in the Christmas Shoebox Appeal, making over 50 boxes to send to children who are less fortunate than us.

Fundraising for Charitable Causes

We take part in a range of charity themed days/events to fundraise for local and national causes. Events have included non-uniform/dress-up days for Comic Relief, Red Nose Day and Jeans for Genes Day. We also take part in sponsored events, cake sales, singing as a whole school inside Tesco Extra in Royston and collect donations during our nativity performance.  For Harvest we host an annual whole school breakfast where staff donate the food items and breakfast donations are made to a chosen charity.  We regularly support our local Home-Start charity which is so very much appreciated by their outreach support team.