As part of their PSHE programme Year 9 & 10 tutor groups were active in the community in May, visiting local care homes, litter picking in Victoria Park and organising activities in a local school. 

10S visited Thatcham Court Care Home which specialises in caring for people with dementia, where the girls chatted to residents and found out about their lives and interests. Talia and Millie also provided a short musical interlude. 

“10T visited John Rankin Infant School where we spent the morning helping the children with their learning using a range of different activities that we, as a form, put together. The activities included learning Spanish, creating animals using Play-Doh and running an obstacle course for them. We found the morning to be very enjoyable as it was good fun to get to know the children and help with their learning.” 

Heidi and Phoebe
 

Whilst 10T spent the morning at Gracewell in Newbury, playing games, music and getting to know the people who lived there. A week later Year 9G and 9T returned to entertain and chat to the residents.  The girls arranged a musical interlude with Rachel and Isabella on guitar and piano respectively. ‘What a wonderful World’ and ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ were particular favourites with Izzy W leading by example and taking the initiative throughout. The residents responded with some of their own favourites including ‘Daisy, Daisy’ and ‘The Siegfried Line’. Some of the girls played pool and completed jigsaws with the residents but the session ended all too quickly. With goodbyes said, the group returned to the bus perhaps more mindful of how little it takes to make a positive difference to peoples’ lives. 

Year 9S used their time productively to carry out a litter pick in Victoria Park, Newbury.

"We were surprised by the number of cans and plastic bottles that had been discarded which should have been recycled."

Oluchi and Anneliese