Charitable efforts prove a winner for Lightwater and Hammond

​​Pupils from Lightwater Village and Hammond Junior Schools discovered the rewards of thinking about others recently after winning a visit from an award-winning children’s author as a thank you for their charitable work.

Last year pupils from the schools, part of the GLF multi-academy trust which runs over 20 schools across five counties, took part in the ActionAid UK charity day Big Me, where they were encouraged to dress up as who they wanted to be when they grew up, to raise funds for children in some of the world’s poorest countries.

This saw them entered into a prize draw to win a visit from the author of books such as ‘The Fearsome Beastie’, which won the People’s Book Prize and Bizziebaby Gold Award, and ‘Little Bell and the Moon’. He delighted his audience, talking about what he had wanted to do when he was a youngster, and reading from his latest book ‘Superchimp’.

“The children had a fantastic time taking part in the Big Me day and are already looking forward to taking part again this year, so to be rewarded for their efforts in such a memorable way as this is wonderful,” said Karen Ney, deputy head at Lightwater, which along with Hammond joined the GLF group in November 2015.

“We had an absolutely wonderful afternoon, the staff and children loved every minute of it which was great because they really earned this.”

“I was delighted to meet the children, and hear about their interest and passion for books and writing,” said Giles.

“ActionAid’s Big Me day is all about dreaming big and exploring hopes for the future. When children think about their aspirations they're often inspired to think about how they can make the world a better place."