By Gavin Mackintosh
Students, parents, and staff at a Surbiton school have donated more than a hundred pairs of shoes to be used by some of the poorest children in south-east Asia.
Students from Hollyfield School sixth form centre conducted the impressive and benevolent scheme after one of their students initiated the idea.
Innovative sixth former, Paul Aisncough launched the reuse scheme Conversion at Hollyfield School and briefed the head teacher and head of the sixth form.
He collaborated with Year 7 pupil Vigo McDonagh by advertising it to parents and students, after which he liaised with project lead Steve Blevins to present the scheme in assemblies. Over 105 pairs of used sports shoes and £59 donated.
Head of the sixth form, Duncan Warren, said “ I have been very impressed with the way that Paul has identified a local initiative that is re-using sports shoes to benefit children in Laos. He has clearly understood the benefits and managed to successfully implement it here at Hollyfield.
”We encourage all of our students to think of themselves as ‘Global Citizens’ and look to help others less fortunate than them locally or anywhere in the world. Paul clearly understands this principle and we hope to support the scheme in the future.”
The shoes will go to children in Laos engaged in a youth rugby development scheme to save them from playing barefoot or in flip-flops on grounds in rural locations which are rough, hard and stony.
The scheme involves using the ChildFund ‘Pass It Back’ rugby and life-skills curriculum which is designed to harness the skills of young people in miscellaneous areas like confidence building, child rights, saving money, planning for the future and a strong focus on gender equality. Over 50% of players are females.
Hollyfield Sixth Form School is a highly academic school with high ethics and strong principles. It was rated well by Ofsted during its last inspection in 2014 and continues to actively inspire and strategically develop their pupils academically and morally. Pupils from the school also seem to be very well mannered and have also been responsive to research conducted by the Eye Of Media.Com in relation to their educational experience.
A culture of private reading and respect to authority is one of the positive features of the school.
A spokesperson for Hollyfield Sixth Form Centre told The Eye Of Media.Com: ”this is a very positive scheme that reflects the range of qualities we have invested in our pupils. We are very proud one of our pupils had the consideration and initiative to engineer such a positive cause such as this”