Operation Christmas Child

Once again our pupils were keen to be involved with Operation Christmas Child.

Head of Thirds Miss Kelly Ormsby (History), in conjunction with Mrs Lynsey Lawrence (Head of Shells, Biology), ensured an impressive number of Shell and Third Year tutor groups spent time packing shoeboxes of presents as part of Operation Christmas Child this term.

This scheme is organised by the humanitarian charity, Samaritan’s Purse, that provides physical aid to those in need. Its focus this year is the well publicised plight of the refugees from war-torn countries such as Syria and Lebanon, but in previous years it has also offered support across the African continent.  

A small shoebox, filled with small presents and useful things that our pupils take for granted - such as dolls, pencils and toothbrushes - can make a big difference to the child receiving that box. Boxes are designed with either a boy or girl in mind, and an age range, from age 2 up to age 14.

Neelam Marwaha in 3JEK commented: "I enjoyed preparing the boxes with my form as we wanted to try to make Christmas special for those who are less fortunate than us. We filled our box with lots of things a girl our age would like including hair accessories, a bag and sunglasses." 

The boxes are now able to be tracked, meaning that in the New Year pupils will receive information as to where in the world their box has gone to, making it all the more meaningful for them. Previous shoeboxes donated by Bablake have travelled as far as Swaziland, so we await discovering how far the ones produced this year will go! 

(Photograph showing some of the boxes prepared by pupils.)