Charity begins at nursery
When are children old enough to understand the idea of charity? We’d say you can’t start early enough. The concepts of kindness to others, empathy and sharing are embedded in our teaching, so helping our children take part in charitable activities is a natural extension.
As a nursery group we have chosen to support UNICEF the children’s charity that helps uphold the rights of children everywhere. Rights which include a right to education, to play, to a home and to food and fresh water “for every child in danger”. Involving the children in fundraising, such as planting sunflowers and baking for Ukraine, opens conversations about children in other parts of the world who we can help. But the conversations are always kept at a level young children can understand: we help people who don’t have as much as us, for instance. We bring into their world with simple things like our “Code of Kindness” and teaching children to listen to each other, use gentle hands and take turns or share.
Each of our individual nurseries have also chosen charities to support that are close to them through the experiences of their children, families or staff. Snapdragons Weston have selected Jessie May Trust as their charity this year. Jessie May is a local charity that supports families coping with the “fear, challenges and complexities of having a child with a life-limiting condition – from diagnosis, during day-to-day life, times of crisis and through bereavement.” At Christmas, the Weston team decorated their Christmas tree with gift tags listing items needed to bring some fun and enrichment to the children being helped by the trust. They had wonderful response from their generous families and were able to donate bags and boxes full of books and toys. The children loved collecting up the presents and understood that they were helping other children. In the summer, they plan a Summer Festival for Jessie May to raise more funds, so we hope that lots of you can join the fun.
Meanwhile, over at Snapdragons Broadwood, the team are getting behind Springboard Chippenham. This amazing charity, whose motto is “maximising ability, minimising disability”, provides support for pre-school children (aged 0-5) with special needs and their families in North Wiltshire. We have worked closely with Springboard in the care of some of our Snapdragons children so we really value the wonderful work they do. Recently the whole nursery undertook a sponsored walk, managing three laps through snowdrops (and mus) round the school grounds to raise £466 (and rising) towards their £1000 target. Great work everyone!
