Rainforest Concern

School News

The wonderful support we have received from schools across the UK and abroad has continued over the last year. Fundraising efforts have included a "guess-the-name-of-the-sloth" competition, 3-legged sponsored run, marathon Aerobics event and much more! Thank you for all your hard work and enthusiasm!

 Watch this wonderful stop-motion animation created by Jamie Quinlan as as part of a school project:

MONKS PARK SCHOOL STUDENTS DESIGN POSTAGE STAMPS 

Five Year 8 students took part in an Art & Geography project at Monks Park School. They had been studying the rainforests and the devastating effects of logging and mining, and so designed postage stamps based on the theme of ‘Saving the Rainforests’. These stamps have been produced as a limited edition by Royal Mail and were used to send out numerous letters as part of a campaign to organisations, politicians and charities. You can see their 5 stamp designs below!

SCHOOLS RAISE OVER £14,000!

I doubt there is a school boy or girl who doesn't know a little about the terms 'deforestation', 'pollution' or 'endangered species', reflecting the growing importance placed on the environment under the school curriculum over the last 10 years. We had a very enthusiastic response from schools again last year, and have received donations totalling more than £14,000 from children's fundraising events - a fantastic contribution! We would like to say a big thank you and well done to all the children and schools that have worked so hard to raise money for Rainforest Concern and our projects, and who continue to organise events.

 Last year, schools and individual pupils wrote to us about their sponsored cake sales, sports days, 'guess-the-name-of-the-sloth' competitions and many more ideas. Rainforest weeks are very popular, when classes decorate the classroom and do different activities with a rainforest theme for a whole week. To name just a few, Ladymede School in Buckinghamshire raised £499 through a cake stall, a sponsored run in pyjamas and a three-legged sponsored run, while class P5 at Low Port Primary School made and sold cards at the school's book fair to sponsor four more acres. For the last two years, Cuiken Primary School has organised a marathon Aerobics sponsored event raising £1,245 in total and sponsoring almost 50 acres! Lochinver House School raised money over the whole academic year and last year gave Rainforest Concern a wonderful donation of £1,649. Inspired by a school visit from Phil Williams, Ellen and Tamsin from Hitchin Girl's School have created their own environment group, P.L.A.N.T.E.D. (Please Let's Act Now To End Destruction) and are planning to deliver their own newsletter, give talks to new year 7's and 8's next term, and organise fundraising events. Dodie, one of our young supporters, has personally sponsored 16 acres of forest by organising sales at her school for the last 2 years running and Maarten has forgone birthday presents for his 8th birthday to sponsor five acres!

If you are a teacher, remember to look at our website where you will find a lot of information about our work and also plenty of facts and figures relating to rainforests in general. If you have any ideas for activities or materials that would be useful to you, or activities that you have tried and found to be effective, please don't hesitate to let us know. Our guided tour of the rainforest continues to be popular with children, teachers, and parents and you can get to it through our linked website at www.guidedtour.rainforestconcern. org. Specifically designed for interactive use in schools and classrooms, you are able to print activity sheets directly from the site.

We are grateful as always to Phil Williams for visiting schools with his popular "World Within Your Shoe" presentations, which are wonderfully inspiring for children of all ages. These visits aften generate a flurry of letters and fundraising initiatives from inspired teachers and their classes and we are always pleased to hear from them. Dave and Sue Shaw also continue to visit schools with their travelling "Rainforest Roadshow", and we thank them for their ongoing enthusiasm and support.

If you would like to know more about "The World Within your Shoe" and how to arrange a visit, please phone Phil Williams on 07798 802087. For information on "The Rainforest Roadshow", please contact Dave and Sue Shaw on 01982 560244. 

Please click here for our 2007 newsletter update.