It’s a great help and the kids are excited to see their teachers
Mirror’s school supplies campaign delivers hope
EXCITED schoolchildren beamed with joy as teachers delivered vital classroom supplies thanks to the Mirror’s Help a Child to Learn campaign.
The youngsters rummaged through boxes of pens, coloured pencils, pencil sharpeners and notebooks.
Our readers have helped pay for the equipment to stop pupils falling behind during lockdown.
The National Education Union donated £1million and it has since been boosted by more than £204,000, thanks to your generosity.
Schools are receiving vouchers for £500, £1,000 or £1,500 to purchase basic but essential items.
As she opened boxes of stationery at Silver Springs Academy in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, head teacher Deborah Mason was grateful.
“This means we can do more and help more people,” she said. “We have cracked the iPad situation. The bigger problem is practical resources. Last year we realised there was an issue around children not having a place to work, not having pens, asking, ‘Can I have a sharpener, Miss?’.
“Pupils were messaging teachers saying, ‘I haven’t got a rubber, I haven’t got colouring pencils’.”
The school’s assistant principal Paul Gladwell and Year Six teacher
Will Tyrell delivered boxes of supplies to homes earlier this week. Beauty salon owner Tiffany Edwards, 32, mum to Cameron, 11, and Freya, nine, said: “It is a great help. It takes a bit of stress off, trying to provide supplies.
“And they get excited about seeing their teachers, seeing a friendly face. It is hard being stuck at home for weeks on end seeing the same faces.”
Freya was pleased with the notebooks and brother Cameron was delighted with his white board. He said: “You can rub things out and start again and not use lots of paper.”
Tracey Hatton, a teaching assistant, watched as daughter Nyla, four, pulled out a notebook.
She has two other children, Mikail, 11, and Harris, nine, and said: “Nyla loves seeing her teachers again. She is really missing them and her friends. Every day she says,
‘Am I going to
school today, Mum?’.” School dinner lady Natalie Shuttleworth, 34, has been homeschooling her daughters, Grace, 10, Sophia, nine, and Phoebe, seven. She was relieved to receive paper and notebooks to give them a break from their tablets.
“I find it difficult to split myself into three. It is hard work, trying to get a routine, but we are managing,” she said. “The lined paper is great because we never have enough and pens and pencils are always going missing.”
Tracy Abernethy, 41, mum to Madison, nine, and Logan, four, said: “With the pens and pencils and paper, they can be more creative. It keeps the children happy. The amount of paper we go through is incredible.”
The deliveries are having a positive effect on schoolwork too. Teacher Mr Tyrrell said: “When you’ve been to the house, even a quick visit, the following week you often see an improvement.”
Mr Gladwell said the staff enjoy seeing pupils, saying: “It’s the nicest part of the job during lockdown. It is as much for my wellbeing, to be honest to keep in touch with the kids.”
The school has 424 pupils, aged three to 11, and according to Ofsted, the proportion of disadvantaged youngsters is more than twice the national average. Head teacher Mrs Mason said more than 50% are eligible for free school meals – an increase of around 10% since Covid.
“We are propping up parent wellbeing,” she said. “In the last week of term I must have had 20 parents on the phone crying, saying, ‘Please can they come back to school’.”
With tears in her eyes, she added: “It is not just parents whose kids are on free school meals. Everybody is struggling. You feel like you are holding a whole community up.
“This time it is harder because everybody has pandemic fatigue. People have been without their support networks for so long now.”
HOW about this for a perfect match… Russell Crowe and girlfriend Britney Theriot both wear black for a spot of tennis…
In a Gladiator versus the Apprentice contest, the Hollywood stars took on Lord Sugar and wife Ann Simons for a game of doubles in Sydney. Lord
Sugar, 73, in Australia filming a celebrity series of his show, is a keen tennis player. And judging by the looks on all their faces, it was a pretty serious affair.
New Zealander Crowe, 56, and 30-year-old Britney are believed to have met on the set of his 2013 film Broken City.