Pupils at Therfield First School have taken part in their Gift of Giving project – which is now an annual tradition.
All 50 pupils in school joined together on Wednesday last week to make almost 400 carrot and orange cupcakes and once cooled, the creations were put into cellophane bags and personalised with tags and purple ribbon to match the schools colour. The following day, all pupils helped to deliver the cupcake goodies to more than 150 homes and buildings in the village – including St Mary’s Church, Therfield Pre School and the Fox and Duck public house.
Parents helped by donating the ingredients for the cakes and came in at various times throughout the two-day project to help bake, bag-and-tag and deliver the cakes.
Children carried them with pride to the eagerly awaiting neighbours. Not all residents were in, so come back home to see a goody bag waiting on their doorstep. For those that were in, they were greeted with cheery voices saying “happy Harvest”.
“Many residents tried to give the children something in return but this was purely our gift of giving,” said headteacher Tara McGovern.
“Our children gain so much personal growth from spreading kindness and positivity to others.”
The project was started four years when Mrs McGovern, joined the school. And so far the pupils have made posies of flowers, chocolate brownies, chocolate chip cookies and now cupcakes.
As always, the project was met with overwhelming response from the villagers. The school has been inundated with phone calls, emails, letters and cards, most written directly to the pupils who had made their cakes.
These were read out to children and parents at the special assembly at the end of the week, and “made the children feet 10ft tall”.
Villages’ comments included “Wow, what a special treat and wonderful idea,” “this is the nicest thing that has happened to me in a very long time,” and “the cakes were absolutely delicious. They were hoovered down immediately with our morning cup of tea!”
On Thursday morning, children came to school dressed as fisherman, farmers, fruits, vegetables and farm animals to be served a special harvest breakfast provided by the staff.
“Money raised from the breakfast we be used to but educational resources which we will send to our linked school in South Africa. It really is the gift that keeps on giving,” added Mrs McGovern.
“It was great to see all the children so involved, happy and enthusiastic”, said class teacher Mrs O’Brien.
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