New Barn School, in Broadbridge Heath, is a special needs school for around 25 students, all of them on the autistic spectrum. To help students be aware of the desperate situations other people find themselves in when money is scarce, the students were recently introduced to foodbank schemes in their PSHCE lessons.
The lessons were designed to teach students the role of foodbanks in the local community, the people they help and how they can be supported.
In order to back up their learning, it was thought it would be a good idea to bring it to life and actually support a local foodbank through the school. It was considered a great initiative, as it would be supporting people at a particularly important time of the year and would help the students understand the needs of others outside of the school. Many of the students, their families and members of staff cleared out their cupboards or added items to their shopping and brought in the items to donate. Before long, the big box by the Christmas tree was full to overflowing!
That day, with the help of three of the students, the food was loaded up into the school car and dropped off at the local distribution centre in Horsham. There the students were given a chat about how the operation is run and the types of people who will receive the food. It was fascinating to hear all about it and even more impressive is the amount of time and help voluntarily given to distribute the food.
The students were very pleased that they had been able to help support the foodbank. The school are also very proud of the effort everyone made to contribute to this cause. In the future we hope to have more initiatives and be able to support worthy causes, such as this one.
Daniel Tresman
Vice Principal, New Barn School
Tel: 01403 289600
Tel: 01403 289606
