Variety, the Children’s Charity of Jersey and Bambola Toymaster in St Helier have helped ensure Christmas comes a little earlier this year to the children of Springfield Primary School. Responding to a request from Anthea Carroll, Deputy Head Teacher, Variety and Bambola helped donate funds to buy an interactive whiteboard to support the education needs of children within the school’s nursery classes.
As well as supporting children for whom English is an additional language, the school also has several children with Autistic Spectrum Needs/Sensory Needs. Some of these children are non-communicative and cannot understand or follow social cues in the class. The interactive whiteboard, therefore, provides an alternative method to allow the children to communicate.
Anthea Carroll says: “We are so grateful for the generosity of Variety and Bambola. This year, the school has had to deal with several challenges and associated costs required to support our students through the Covid-19 pandemic. Without additional support, we would not have been able to provide this whiteboard, but it is already proving to be an invaluable asset to the class. Some of our Autistic students, who are totally non-communicative and can get quite distressed, have been drawing on the board and speaking for the first time. Several of these children had never picked up a pen before to mark-make and this is the first evidence we have seen of this skill. I cannot express enough thanks to Variety and Bambola as to have seen so much progress already is phenomenal. This whiteboard will make such a positive difference to children’s nursery experience and really help them to communicate with us.”
Sandra Auckland, Chief Barker for Variety commented: “We are always pleased to be able to help with projects that improve the lives of children in Jersey. Hearing about the progress that has been made and the difference this will make to the nursery pupils at Springfield is worth all of the efforts that we make to fundraise.”