A SCHOOL’S pupils have thought about others at Christmas by boosting a foodbank’s appeal with 10 big shopping bags full of goodies.

Youngsters from St John’s Academy Church of England Primary in Coleford presented the food they had collected to Forest Foodbank volunteers at the town’s St Margaret Mary Catholic church.

Twenty six pupils and three members of staff carried the food from the school to the church to make the presentation on Monday, December 17.

The foodbank’s Esther Stevens said: “It’s a fantastic effort by the children.

“It’s brilliant that they’ve thought about other people who are not so well off as them.

“We’ve had a lot more schools involved in helping us across the Forest this year, and we’ve been highlighting their efforts on our social media pages, which in turn raises awareness.

“And their donations look set to grow next year, with even more schools wanting to get involved, and that’s fabulous.

“I think it’s really important that the youngsters are learning at an early age that there are people less fortunate than some of us who need a helping hand.

“It’s all part of learning to be kind and caring.”

St John’s teacher Bernadette Lee said the children had been doing the foodbank collections alongside their Christmas ‘Gifts and Giving’ project, and had made posters advertising their appeal and had encouraged their parents and family to make donations to the big collection bin in the school office.

“They’ve also learnt what goes into a foodbank parcel, how the charity works and about the different types of people being helped.

“They’ve been really enthusiastic and it teaches them about being charitable and caring for others who aren’t so well off.

“The collection bin was full to overflowing and I had to drag it down the corrider ths morning. It’s a fantastic effort and I’m really proud of the children.

“Watching the food collections grow every day as they brought in their donations was brilliant. They really showed a lot of enthusiasm.”

Skye Squire, aged nine, wrote a news article about their work for the project, which is going to be displayed in the classroom.

She said: “It’s very important to collect for the foodbank, particularly at Christmas, because there are a lot of people who don’t have enough food.”

The Forest Foodbank is run in partnership with local churches and co-ordinated by Coleford Baptist Church.

It is part of the Trussell Trust, which oversees 1,200 foodbanks across the UK, which last year handed out 1.3m emergency food parcels to people in crisis.

To contact the Forest Foodbank, call 07775 265263 or email [email protected]

To donate or to request help, go to the website at theforest.foodbank.org.uk

More information is on the group’s Facebok, Twitter and Instagram pages.