School pupils team up with College students for Ukraine Peace Games

A group of students from Trinity Academy St Edwards paid College a visit during a day of special celebrations to raise awareness of the war in Ukraine.

The pupils, who were all in year seven, teamed up with a group of our very own Level 3 Sports students to participate in the ‘Peace Games’ – a sporting event designed by College students to promote teamwork and cooperation. It was an event that saw teachers take a back seat as College students guided the teams through the events.

Charlie Gill, a current Level 3 Sport Student who took part in the games, was proud of his involvement.

“I think it’s a massive thing, raising awareness for children to know what’s going on around the world,” he said.

“It introduces key elements that they need to understand like peace and co-operation – a lot of these games that we’re doing today involve values like teamwork, to teach children that we don’t need wars like this to happen in future.”

Ellie Gordon, Assistant Student Liaison Officer at Trinity Academy St Edwards, was also there to supervise the school children on the day. She considered it to be a great experience for them, both as a window to the world and a glimpse into their own future.

She said: “It’s good for our students to come and experience things from a different point of view, so not just us teachers teaching them, but doing something a bit different.”

“They also get to see things from a different angle, in the sense that they might be the same as these College students teaching them in a few years to come!”

This wasn’t the only awareness-raising event to happen in College. Elsewhere on the day, staff and students at were paying their respects to the people of Ukraine through a variety of activities.

Some students pasted messages of support across College buildings, adorned with Sunflowers (the national flower of Ukraine). Others, like those in Childcare and Learning for Living and Work, raised funds by holding special themed activities and even collected dozens of boxes of donations for those in need. Large groups of students and staff also took part in the ‘Walk To Freedom’, a 3200km walk that mirrors the distance from Barnsley to Kharkiv.

To find out how you can help citizens of Ukraine during the current crisis, the Charity Aid Foundation website has a useful list of charities you can support.