“We had a fantastic time with this kit. Christmas is the perfect time for our school to do some community outreach and SVA fitted in perfectly. We had students out and about on our Day of Action. They visited retirement villages and played petanque, sang songs and exercised with the residents. They visited the early childhood centre next door and sang Christmas carols. They baked cupcakes for our police and fire fighters and delivered them as well as making and delivering Christmas cards to small businesses in our community. Thanks SVA. It was a great day and the students were thoroughly engaged in the planning and implementing of the action.”
“The students were all actively engaged in the SVA Community Guardian's Kit. They organised themselves in to groups and came up with options for a community cleanup. These were then voted on and one was chosen. The students then organised the day, involving parents and trailers, etc. A great day was had by all. There was a lot of learning and the students are proud of their community, and are more aware of community activities that they can organize.”
“I have not had the chance to complete the kit this term but have put plans in place to use it as a base for my teaching next year. It is a wonderful kit and very greatful for the opportunity to use it.”
“We had a ball cleaning up our school grounds. The children loved the badges, although it was hard to group them in the different categories. We just went hammer and nails with our end-of-year clean-up.”
“This was great. My year 2s enjoyed taking on the role of kaitiaki of our school and surrounds. They did general clean ups then worked hard on coming up with ways to encourage native birds into our bush area. Bird housee have been built and are starting to attract some birds. The children have enjoyed making a difference”
“What an amazing resource! My class of Yr 4 and 5 students decided to give Christmas to local families in need. The Kit was amazing to help guide the students to see their project through to completion. On Friday, we delivered hamper products and gifts for 25 children from local families that will have gifts to open :-) The parents loved seeing the project unfold and the children have loved taking part! Thank you so much SVA for such a brilliant kit”
“Both my students and I found the SVA kit a great tool for guiding our social action. I let the students drive their social action.They found your SVA site really informative and inspiring.The different projects that were on the site really showed the students the breadth of possibilities.Initially the class decided on tree planting but when the research crew emailed our local council we found we were too late for tree planting.Maybe next year..So back to our brainstorm. The class decided to do something for animals and people in the community.One of the students had adopted a dog from HUHA a few years ago and so they decided to do something for HUHA. So after some research about HUHA and emails as to their needs the girls decided to make some dog toys for the dogs.Another group researched dog toys and after discussions decided on making a dog tugger toy from polar fleece. Various prototypes and testing followed until a final design was decided on and put into production.The entire class made the dog tugger toys- a plait of 3 strips of polar fleece.They made different lengths and thicknesses for different sized dogs. In total they made about 50 toys and delivered them to our local HUHA branch., who were delighted to receive the toys. The girls also did a money collection at our local mall for HUHA.Again the students did all the organisation, emailing and collecting themselves.The funds raised were given to HUHA to buy food for their animals. HUHA is Helping Us Help Animals - a charity that helps all sorts of animals.Another group in the class decided they wanted to help the SPCA and so they raised funds for the SPCA by having a collection at the local mall.Again the students organised everything themselves. Another group were keen to reduce the use of plastic.So they make reusable bags and sold them,donating the money to Starship Hospital.They also made posters on how to reduce plastic use and put them up around the school.My last group were keen to do something for people in our community and contacted the local Salvation Army.A member of the Salvation Army came to school and spoke to the class about the work of the Salvation Army and explained how volunteering your time can be very helpful and important. So a group of students are going to volunteer at the local Salvation Army in the holidays.
The SVA kit has been a very inspiring tool to use.The students have felt empowered as learners and as useful citizens. Students have developed a huge range of skills that are pertinent now and in the future. I certainly recommend the SVA kit to anyone.”
“Our classroom decided to do a trapping Library for our community. We made over 70 T rex traps and gave them out to those who liked one. We sent out invites first, the students made them and hand delivered them to the community. When then set up display boards with information on why it is important to trap. Then people got to take a trap home. The students also offered to clear and reset traps also if people wanted them to. Was a really successful project for the class to be part of.”
