1 letter 1 smile, Year 2 and 3 letter writing with Year 8 buddies

On Wednesday 19 June, 11 Year 8 students volunteered to go down to the Junior School to support the Year 2s and Year 3s to write letters for 1 letter, 1 smile. Tess and Darcey, our 2 Sixth Form prefects for the Junior School, came up with the idea and had this to say about the project: 

Tess: 

When I first became Junior School leader, I knew I wanted to create activities that helped the wider community while bringing together the Junior and Senior School. When I heard of the non-profit organization 1 letter, 1 smile, which were initially created during the covid-19 pandemic to combat loneliness in elderly care homes, I knew this was something that I would like Darcey and I to do. 1 letter, 1 smile, have a website which allows people to send letters to elderly care home residents through writing a message and attaching a photo to be sent to an elderly care home residents in countries such as France, England, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Canada and the USA. I thought it would be a great activity for the year 8s, 2s and 3s to work on.  

Darcey: 

Initially, when Tess approached me with the idea, I was excited. There were, however, a lot of admin/organizing skills that were required to plan it and bring the Year 8’s to the Junior School, but it was easy with everyone’s support and encouragement for the idea. On the day, we went to the Junior School the Year 8’s where lovely and very eager to engage and help with the year 2’s and 3’s. Due to it being a lovely idea and the year 2’s being so sweet I really enjoyed the process of helping them write the letters but also draw some pictures. Tess and I would also love for the activity to be passed on to the next junior school prefects and to carry on with writing more letters through the company, 1 letter, 1 smile. 

Tess and I would also just like to say a massive thank you to Ms Dutton and Ms Freebairn for helping us with this and we really appreciate all the effort that both of them and the Junior School have put into making the idea a reality.