Nayland College’s little helpers
Pictured from left are Nayland College Year 9 students Lillybelle Trowbridge, Daisy Stossel, Ellie Bone, Maddy Shaw, Sophie Graham, Caitlin Gerritsen, Freya Smith, Macey Richards and Michelly Liyanage with some of the care packages they have made for children this Christmas. <em>Photo: Supplied.</em>
Thirty families in Nelson will be better off this Christmas, thanks to a resourceful bunch of Nayland College students.
A group from the Year 9 ‘Launch’ class, which is part of the school’s enrichment programme, have created a company called ‘CarePackages’ and they have put together 30 bundles of festive joy for local children.
The packages were delivered to the Salvation Army on 11 December, who will distribute them into the community.
Teacher Ross Gerritsen says students in the class were given a brief to identify a challenge or problem, and create a service or product to tackle it.
“This group wanted to support families at Christmas and the idea of child-centric boxes filled with toys, games and food items was born.”
The school gave them a $100 budget, and they also managed to raise $700 through a Givealittle page and $300 through a mufti day. New toys, food, and games were donated by members of the school community.
“They then contacted the Salvation Army who offered their established distribution channels to get the packages into homes,” Ross says.
“The students packed the boxes in a group member’s garage and are delighted to be responsible for making Christmas a little better for 30 Nelson children this year.”
Ross says he was impressed by the resourcefulness of the students.
“It is incredible what young people can do when they are motivated to support the community.”
Another group in the class tackled a different project, which was identifying the anxiety that can come with starting Year 9 in a new school.
From this, they published a 16-page orientation booklet called ‘For the Students by the Students’, which will be distributed to new students at the start of 2025.