All pupils at The Paragon recently held their very first ‘Queen Elizabeth Day’ which saw the whole school offering their services to the community and local charities in recognition of our late monarch’s life of service, dedication, and duty.
After months of careful placement planning by a team of parent volunteers, all children came off timetable for the day to provide support in small groups, working on location or onsite on charitable endeavours in and around the city of Bath.
15 charities and organizations were supported over the course of the day, including The Nest Project, Bath City Farm, Cleveland Pools, Swallow Learning Disability Charity, St Martin’s Community Pantry, Sporting Family Change, Friends of Lyncombe Fields, Designability, The Community Farm, Bath Area Play Project, Bath Mind, Bath City Football Club, Bath Preservation Trust, Bath Ethnic Minority Senior Citizen Association, and Cleeve Court Care Home.
Children, accompanied by teachers and parents, set off early in the morning with gardening tools, trays of plants, pots of paint and bin bags for litter collection, and then were set to task clearing weeds, planting flower beds, sorting donations, helping to design mobility vehicles and accessible playgrounds for children, assisting with learning programmes, chatting to residents of local care homes and so much more.
The school’s Pre-Prep (Reception class to Year 2) remained onsite and prepared a tea party for elderly relatives, neighbours and friends of the school, serving cakes and refreshments, singing songs, playing games and reading with them. Squirrels Pre-School created a delicious picnic for domestic and administrative staff.
Head of School, Rosie Allen, said, “It has been a fantastic day, I felt so privileged to be able to travel round and see so many of the children engaged in such meaningful activities with our local community both here and at the school. Thank you so much to everyone who has worked so hard to make this event happen and to our hosts for providing such a warm welcome for their volunteers. We are looking forward to QE Day 2024 already!”
A team of four pupils from Years 4 and 5 who were tasked with being ‘roving reporters’ are currently preparing a show about the day for Radio Bath to air later in June.