Jonathan Courts, Year Seven Performance Leader and Transition Lead at Haywood Academy, who oversees the project, explains: “Being committed to our local community is a big part of our school ethos. We have a kindness matters agenda, where we model kindness and appreciation to those around us.
“As Haywood Hospital is our close neighbour, we wanted to thank the staff who help and care for local people. Often, our NHS and the people who work in it are taken for granted, when actually, they are the heroes in our community.
“I want to say thank you to the staff that hosted us. Our pupils not only took away experiences in modelling kindness, they learnt something too! The staff were very welcoming and generous with their time. The children enjoyed a talk from a stroke consultant and they were also given the opportunity to try plaster casts on each other in the walk-in centre - the children loved it.
“They came away with a greater appreciation of what NHS staff do and it may have sparked thinking about future career aspirations for some. We’d love to come back and undertake another project to continue to teach our children community values.”
Emma Pinto-Lima, Head of Operations - Community Hospitals & Intermediate Care said: “At MPFT we believe in putting people at the heart of what we do to make life better for the communities we serve, so we were pleased to be able to support Haywood Academy with their project and to make links with their local community.
“It was a lovely gesture and the staff and I welcomed them coming to see what we do here. The staff really enjoyed the visit and are very grateful for the hampers gifted to them. Thank you, Haywood Academy, for thinking of us and your kind generosity.”