Schools have a T'riffic Time in Thamesmead

School children from four Thamesmead primary schools have had a ‘T'riffic' time over the past few months working on projects that have helped their schools to raise funds for local charities and at the same time developed exciting resources for their own schools.

Hawksmoor, Heronsgate, Jubilee and Linton Mead primary schools each received £250 funding from Trust Thamesmead to develop sustainable projects which would be of benefit to their school and at the same time demonstrate something T'riffic about Thamesmead and its young people.

The projects were developed by school councils with each school coming up with a different idea.

Linton Mead used the funding as an opportunity to create a cookery book with recipes provided by the school community and which also highlighted the cultural and ethnic diversity of Thamesmead, historic family recipes and general life around Thamesmead.

The book is crammed with photos taken all around Thamesmead, many of them by ten year old Thomas Ball, who said: “My favourite place is the Clock Tower in Thamesmead Town Centre. I really like the fact people can chill-out by the canal, whilst watching the ducks. I really enjoyed photographing everything - it made me think about what I wanted in the picture and how to take photos.”

The book also includes a vegetable curry recipe from local MP Teresa Pearce and Prime Minister David Cameron's smoked mackerel pate.

Heronsgate chose two projects; a poetry book called ‘The United People of Thamesmead' with contributions from pupils, parents, friends and family and ‘Carnival', using some of the funding to create carnival costumes for their summer fair.

Seven year old pupil CJ Peter-Kine said: “I really enjoyed making costumes for our carnival; we used lots of fabric and peacock feathers. The carnival was a lot of fun; we wore the costumes we had made and danced around the playground in front of parents and other students.”

Jubilee School bought a camcorder with their funding and are producing a documentary film about Thamesmead past, present and future. They have interviewed older residents at the Pop in Parlour and were among the first groups to visit The Link Thamesmead, the stunning state-of-the-art community hub under the flyover in Harrow Manor Way, which is due to open next month.

Last but not least Hawksmoor primary school chose to use their funding to build a family room as parent Anne-Marie Goldspring explained: Our new family room will give parents and carers the opportunity to work together with their children. The room is an on-going project which will begin in the new school year in September and enable parents to also share skills and expertise amongst each other. We call it the multi-cultural swap shop of skills and learning and feel happier, content parents, make for happier and more content children, which can only benefit the children, school, parents and the community as a whole.”