Portsmouth News

Bags of kindness as pupils share the spirit of generosity

Donations to others were part of school’s Love Christmas appeal

- By EMILY JESSICA TURNER The News emily.turner@thenews.co.uk

THREE Paulsgrove primary schools have been sharing the festive spirit of the season as youngsters gifted special bags of treats in an act of Christmas kindness.

As part of its school advent appeal, pupils at St Paul's Catholic Primary School created festive ‘bags of kindness’ for others in Paulsgrove.

Each bag contained a range of treats tailored to a themed event, such as cinema night or afternoon tea.

Hoping to share the Christmas spirit beyond their own school family, the youngsters gave these bags to the communitie­s of Victory Primary School and Beacon View Primary School.

Zoe Killick, headteache­r at St Paul's Catholic Primary School, said: ‘At St Paul’s we believe that Christmas is all about – sharing, caring and living out our school mission statement to 'Do everything with Love.'

‘During this season of Advent, our families have supported our Love Christmas Appeal, by making donations of food, games, DVDs, soft drinks, and smellies to distribute to those who are less fortunate in our local community.

‘These donations were then used to create four bags of kindness — an afternoon tea, a games night, a pamper bag and a movie night.

‘These bags have now been shared with our nearest two local primary schools.’

Representa­tives from Victory and Beacon View primary schools collected more than 25 ‘bags of kindness’ for each school on Tuesday, December 7.

Zoe added: ‘Each bag contained a prayer, written by the prayer leaders of St Paul’s, a decorated stone as a memento of kindness and love, and a tree decoration from the children of St Paul’s.’

These extra gifts meant that the bag recipient has something to keep to remind them of the kindness shared this Christmas.

Sally Hodgson, principal at Beacon View Primary, thanked St Paul’s school pupils for the ‘bags of kindness’. She said: ‘Thank you so much for this, we are completely overwhelme­d by St Paul’s school family’s generosity.’

One St Paul’s pupil, 10-year-old Elizabetta, said: ‘We have organised an event that every child in the school has participat­ed [in], we have brought in some games and some food for the less fortunate.’

Fellow St Paul’s pupils Mark, also 10, added: ‘Not everyone can celebrate how they want to, so we want to try and make that happen as much as we can.’

Not everyone can celebrate how they want to, so we want to try and make that happen...

St Paul’s pupil, Mark

 ?? Picture: Chris Moorhouse (jpns 071221-20) ?? A TIME FOR GIVING From left, Elizabetta, 10, Alicia, 10, Teddy, 7, Mark, 10, Freya, 10, Nellie, 5, Betty, 8 and Isabelle, 7 with their kindness bags. The children are from St Paul’s Catholic Primary School, Beacon View Primary School, and Victory Primary School. The bags will be given to local families at Christmas
Picture: Chris Moorhouse (jpns 071221-20) A TIME FOR GIVING From left, Elizabetta, 10, Alicia, 10, Teddy, 7, Mark, 10, Freya, 10, Nellie, 5, Betty, 8 and Isabelle, 7 with their kindness bags. The children are from St Paul’s Catholic Primary School, Beacon View Primary School, and Victory Primary School. The bags will be given to local families at Christmas

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