Children stay silent for a whole day - and raise £475
YOUNGSTERS HELP HIGHLIGHT PLIGHT OF CHILD REFUGEES
CHILDREN at Scartho Junior Academy have smashed their fundraising target for a sponsored silence raising awareness for the plight of child refugees. The children from Year 5 spent an entire school day in silence and communicated using sign language that they learned earlier in the term. Incredibly, they more than quadrupled their funding target and raised £475 for The Children’s Society after the completing their day of silence last Tuesday.
Teacher Mrs Goffin said: “The idea of the challenge came around through their learning in their REAL Project work, which included exploring evacuee experiences in World War II. “After learning about children in World War II, the classes were saddened to find out that crises still happen in the world today and they were dedicated to doing some good in the world.
“Knowing that child refugees had ‘no voice’, they decided to embark upon a sponsored silence in support of ‘The Children’s Society’ charity.
“This was no mean feat - they take great pleasure in talking!”
The silence involved two Year 5 classes and on the stroke of 9.30am both classrooms fell silent and wouldn’t hear voices again until 3pm. The children used signs from the Makaton Language Programme and letters from the British Sign Language alphabet to communicate among themselves and with staff. Teachers said the children learned to pick up on more subtle clues such as body language, and became more aware of their other senses and how these could help them manage. Avni Chhajer, 9, started the sponsored silence day saying she felt excited about the challenge, but many were nervous and worried about what it would feel like.
The children managed to remain silent for the whole day, supporting each other and reassuring one another if a mistake was made. Afterwards, Max Robinson and Taylor Smith, both 9, reflected on how it had been an isolating and lonely experience.
Ariyana Shariff, and Lily Morgan, 9, both agreed that it had been a really challenging experience. Despite this all agreed it had been worthwhile as the two classes have so far raised an incredible £475 for The Children’s Society, smashing their original target of £100.
The teachers and children want to thank the Scartho Junior Academy community for rallying behind them by raising such a significant amount to support the charity.
You can visit the Just Giving page and donate here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/year5sjasilence