As part of their Premier League Primary Stars social action project, Laithes Primary School has completed a local community fundraiser to raise money for Barnsley Animal Rescue Charity this Christmas.

The initiative saw the whole school run one-mile a day across the duration of a week as they clocked up the total distance between Lands’ End and John O’Groats which equivalated to an impressive 810 miles.

Donations will go towards covering the cost of vet bills, animal bedding and food.

Reds in the Community have been delivering the Premier League Primary Stars programme to Year 5 and Year 6 pupils at Laithes Primary School since the beginning of the 2020/21 academic year in September.

The 12-week tailored course is funded by the Premier League and seeks to use the pull of professional football clubs and sport to promote education in primary school children.

By incorporating curriculum based lessons such as English, Maths, PE and PSHE as well as completing a social action project of their choice, students learn a number of qualities and real-life skills that are transferable outside of the classroom and into everyday life.

Pupils at Laithes Primary School have reaped the benefits of the initiative and particularly enjoyed taking part in the social action project, raising money to help the animals in need at Barnsley Animal Rescue Charity.

One pupil said:

It [the social action project] has a really big benefit because it’s helping loads of homeless animals that can’t have homes because their previous owners either couldn’t take care of them or just gave up. It makes me feel happy that I’m helping homeless animals and it just makes me feel really happy inside.”

Laithes Primary School’s Year 5 class teacher was also full of praise for the Premier League Primary Stars programme and added:

“They loved the idea of the fundraising aspect, trying to raise money for a good cause. They are animal lovers so they chose to support BARC [Barnsley Animal Rescue Charity] and they are hoping that they can raise lots of money by doing the daily mile. That charity was hit hard by lockdown and they didn’t have enough money to care for the animals and that’s really taken them.

We’ve been doing lots of work in terms of personal, social citizenship education, we’re a big advocate of that in our school. I really do believe that they [the pupils] have thought a little bit more outside of the box. They are thinking of the community in a wider sense, not just in school but out and about.”

Reds in the Community’s Premier League Primary Stars Officer Gareth Cooke heads up the programme and led the sessions at Laithes Primary School. He went on to say:

“Doing a community based social action project has a massive benefit to the kids because they get to learn about different aspects of their community. From speaking to the teacher, they’ve been going out and helping people and going the extra mile to help people at home as well.”

If you would like to get involved with Laithes Primary School’s Social Action Project or find out more about Barnsley Animal Rescue Charity, click here.

For more information about the Premier League Primary Stars programme, contact Sports Development Officer [email protected] or ring 01226 211333.