by Laura Hearne, Senior Learning Support Assistant
Macintyre School is situated in the idyllic village of Wingrave, Buckinghamshire. It’s a village with a strong sense of community and after joining the village “postie” (an email service circulating details of activities, items for sale and other village news) it became apparent that there were plenty of opportunities for our young people to contribute to their local village and we were keen to get involved wherever possible!
Wingrave Church
Wingrave church is very much at the centre of the village, hosting warm spaces and tea afternoons, Christmas tree festivals, plant sales and everything in between. Our school and young people have always been invited to join these activities and we attend where we can. A postie email arrived in my inbox giving details about a monthly church clean, asking for any willing volunteers to come along and lend a hand, so after sending an email round to all teachers we put together a team of five young people all eager and willing to get stuck in. One young man in particular has a very keen interest in keeping areas well dusted so this was a perfect opportunity for him to show off his skills.
A 'clean' start
The ladies at the church were warm and inviting, keen to learn and understand the young people who draw on our support and we deemed the initial clean up a success. After returning to school, I emailed the lead co-ordinator to check in and discuss if she felt our presence there was helpful and beneficial and I was very pleased to learn that we would be welcome back to help anytime!
We continue to help clean the church on a monthly basis and our team of 5 look forward to dusting the pews and sweeping the leaves from the floor as well as having a chat with the lovely ladies, some of whom now visit our monthly Community Café and are familiar faces within the school.
Moving outside
One afternoon, another postie email came through detailing a village litter picking event that was coming up one weekend. The email was asking for additional volunteers to help and for any keen bakers to provide cakes for the litter picking volunteers! Our Community Café offered to donate some homemade bakes for the event and our Children’s home care co-ordinator got straight to work identifying a team of young people who love to walk in the village and enjoy keeping their areas clean and tidy. What a great turnout there was from villagers and Macintyre young people alike, the event was a great success and our Community Café received great praise for the cakes and treats donated also.
Following on from this event, we have been contacted directly with more great opportunities where we can help and we are more than happy to do so!
Duke of Edinburgh Awards
Some of the young people involved are able to use these volunteering opportunities to help them achieve their Duke of Edinburgh awards and we continue to look for events and opportunities where we can give back to our local village and foster great community connections!
