Reception aged children at St George’s Primary School in Warminster have been visiting local care homes to provide enrichment activities to the residents there.
The children, aged four and five, have been visiting the residents for just over four months and on each visit they all take part in a different activity. The children and residents have shared stories, shared photos of their families, danced, sang and planted seeds together.
The idea came about when the whole school took part in an initiative where each class chose a charity to support for that academic year. The reception class teacher, Mrs Davies, chose the charity ‘Friends of the Elderly’ as she felt that the young children in her class had so much to offer the local community. “They provide me with much joy and laughter everyday, I knew that they had so much to share with others too,” she said.
Mrs Davies and the children discussed how they didn’t need to have lots of money to be charitable, that they could give their time and the children responded really well to this. The answer from one of the children was, “We know a lot about being a good friends because we are good friends with each other every single day!”
Mrs Davies contacted two local care homes, Wren House and Abbeyfield, with both being delighted to take part in the activities and welcoming the children with delight. A local coach company, Beeline, offered its services free of charge and have taken the children each month to the care homes to visit the residents.
Ellie Simmonds, the manager at Wren house commented, “The children are so well behaved and polite, while the residents have been up early, ready and dressed on the days they know the children are visiting. It’s such a joy to see. When they are together, they have no difficulty dealing with the age gap, it is like two dear friends who are meeting up for a chat and a catch up together.”
Although the children are now moving into Year 1; the two generations will continue to meet up on a monthly basis. The children have clearly made ‘Friends of the Elderly!’.