The pupils at St Michael’s Junior School in Bath are putting their knitting skills to good use, including raising money for charity and improving their own wellbeing.
This knitting craze started back in October 2018 when the Bath & Wells Diocese sent a request for knitted poppies to display in Wells Cathedral to mark the centenary of Armistice Day.
“A group of Year 6 girls took on the challenge given to them by the school chaplain to start knitting with red wool, and from there the group has gone from strength to strength, with around 12 children now meeting regularly at lunchtimes,” explained headteacher Clare Green.
“Warm winter scarves were the next craze; boys and girls were seen at lunchtimes, crowding into the chaplain’s room where stitches were knitted, dropped and re-found! Poppy from Year 6 had the idea to knit scarves to raise money for the Bath Cats & Dogs Home and so at lunchtimes, evenings and weekends, the children set to knit scarves to sell. They raised over an incredible £70, which Poppy and another Year 6 pupil, Ruby, handed over to the Cats and Dogs Home.”
Clare added that the benefits to the children and the school have been huge. “Knitting contributes to the mental wellbeing of this group of children, many of whom are going through a period of change as they consider their transfer to secondary school. Knitting and chatting about the everyday issues the children face at home and school, whilst thinking of others too, has given this group of children a real sense of purpose.
“The children are now teaching some of their peers to knit, have shared their skills with the whole school in assemblies and even had a ‘knit and natter’ session with some of the residents of Cleeve Court, the residential care home that the school have good links with. Their sense of achievement has been celebrated by the whole school and now there is a waiting list of more children wanting to knit.”