Croydon pupils bring smiles to young hospital patients

Generous pupils at a Croydon school are helping bring a smile to young people in hospital who are being treated on cancer wards.

​Chestnut Park Primary School has links with a Surrey charity named after James Carpenter who was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 13 and died nine years later in September 2022 from complications stemming from a brain tumour.

Head Teacher Rachel Jacob was the head of James’ infant school and Chestnut Park, a member of GLF Schools Multi-Academy Trust, has chosen James Box of Smiles as its charity for the year. The charity was established by James’ parents Jane and John as a legacy in his name.

A group of pupils recently visited Epsom Hospital’s Casey ward where patients received some of the Lego donated via the school.

“This initiative and supporting James Box of Smiles as one of our charities of the year has supported children’s understanding of those with critical illnesses such as cancer, but has also been a part of our school’s drive to build on our values of ‘awareness of others, growing friendships and respect’”, said Mrs Jacob.

“Staff at Epsom Hospital were overwhelmed by the number of Lego sets donated by Chestnut Park via the charity. The children enjoyed adding the James Box of Smiles stickers to the donations and were so happy when the play team staff noted how kind and generous the children were,” she added. 
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The Carpenter family has donated hundreds of sets of Lego to hospitals and charities around the country. James spent many hours building kits, and now the Box of Smiles means children and young people in hospital can share his love for Lego.

“The whole school worked as a team to make and sell gingerbread as they also knew that James loved making gingerbread as well as Lego. The whole school community then worked as a team to raise funds to purchase the Lego sets and deliver them,” said Mrs Jacob.

Chestnut Park Primary will also be fundraising for the charity in the summer term with events including a sponsored bounce.