Church and school project boosts well-being for the elderly
Well-being amongst children and the elderly has been given a boost thanks to a partnership between a Sussex church and its church school.
Children from Chailey St Peter’s Church of England Primary School have been helping to serve lunch to the elderly patrons of a lunch club, inspiring many of them to join a reading project in the school.
Petrina Ferris, Deputy Executive Headteacher of three schools in the Bluebell Federation which includes Chailey, said pupils are keen to engage with the elderly.
She said: “The children are enthusiastic and engaged and we have been inspired and impressed by their openness and warmth towards the older generation who have now also joined the school community to strengthen reading for pleasure. Both the lunch club and our reading project encourages communication and builds positive relationships between the two generations. Our reading project also helps to boost well-being among children and the elderly.
“Chailey St Peter's Church run the lunch club which is held on the third Thursday of each month from 12.30-2pm. The school children join in and say the grace before the meal, help serve the food and share stories with their community.”
Rio was one of the pupils that got involved. He said: “I was very happy when my teacher asked me to help with the lunch club. We walked up to the church. When we arrived, we helped lay the tables. We led the grace before the meal and then we helped serve their lunch. They had gammon with coleslaw and potato salad. We then helped clear and serve pudding. The pudding looked really nice. It was meringues with strawberries and cream. After lunch was finished, I chatted with some of the people.”
Emily, a pupil, also helped and enjoyed being in the church. She said: “All the elderly people were so nice and grateful. I really liked serving the food and being helpful and it was very generous that at the end they gave us the amazing pudding to say thanks! I had some good conversations and I’d definitely like to be chosen to go next month too.”
Petrina added: “We try to vary the groups of children attending each month to ensure more children experience the intergenerational opportunities to converse and build relationships with the older generation.
“Many of the elderly are past pupils of Chailey St Peter's school and they were delighted that we asked them to come to the school to read with the children.”
Ten adults from the lunch club now visit the school every week to enjoy a reading-for-pleasure session.
What next?
The school federation is now about to enter its third year with another Intergenerational project. Children in year 6 join with the elderly and those with dementia in their local area to complete a 6-week opera project. Here is a snippet from Chailey St Peter's website of the children and adults.
https://youtu.be/lhAckpKEgDk