Pupils Help the Local Community over Service Weekend
Pupils involved in Voluntary Action spent Service Weekend helping in a number of different areas within the local community. One group of pupils cleared the footpaths of the Oakham canal and repaired some wooden seating as part of their ongoing work with the Oakham Canal Green Corridor Project. Another group travelled to Rocks by Rail, the living ironstone museum, where they repainted the entrance gates and shovelled stones, then levelled them out on one of the tracks in the covered area where the historic locomotives are housed.
Another group helped the Oakham in Bloom team with weeding, trimming and sweeping in the Museum Garden, tidying it for the season ahead. The team from Oakham in Bloom who oversaw our pupils’ work, said: “We thank the pupils for their efforts as part of the School service to the community; we hope to see them again in the spring.”
Elsewhere in School, Form 5 pupils collected and sorted the Harvest donations ready to be transported to the Rutland Foodbank, whilst Form 6 pupils entertained members of PHAB with a movie afternoon on the Saturday afternoon in the Odd House. The pupils and their guests enjoyed popcorn and other assorted snacks and milk shakes and sodas whilst watching The Jungle Book and then finished off the afternoon with a few games of Uno and Top Trumps.
The Voluntary Action Service Weekend culminated was the annual Harvest Party that saw VA pupils host over one hundred members of Oakham’s elderly community for afternoon tea in the Barraclough. In preparation for the event, pupils baked cakes and made flower arrangements for their guests to take home. During the tea, Oakhamians served their guests an assortment of delicious sandwiches and cakes and then entertained them with some musical performances, directed by Acting Director of Music Steve Foster. A highly competitive and interactive game of Bingo followed the musical entertainment and the afternoon finished with an uplifting singalong of classic songs.
Head of Voluntary Action, Chris West-Sadler, said: “It has been great to see our Voluntary Action pupils out and about helping in the local community this Service Weekend in such a wide variety of activities to help our Oakham neighbours.
“Our pupils volunteer on a regular basis helping in local primary schools and nurseries or running activities for local disabled young people in conjunction with Oakham’s Phab Club, and our Service Weekends are a chance for our pupils to dedicate even more time to helping their local community and develop their communication skills at the same time.”
