During the last half-term, pupils at Tenby Junior Community School have been busy raising funds for the Send a Cow Christian charity that supports needy families and farmers in Africa. Contrary to a few comments from parents, this does not mean that a cow will be bought in this country and packed off in an aeroplane to Africa! In September, headteacher, Jan Llewellyn shared in assembly about how children in Uganda have been orphaned from war and illness such as Aids. The children learned that the gift of a cow at a school or to a needy family can make a world of difference to people's lives. The pupils caught the vision and the aim was to raise £750 (over double what is normally collected) to enable the charity to buy a cow on the school's behalf. Here is a list of the activities that the pupils got involved in during playtime and weekends for three weeks: selling home-baked cakes and cow-shaped biscuits, ice-pops and chocolate covered fruit; making badges, door-hangers, book marks and cards in all different designs and selling them; selling conkers - although for health and safety reasons they were not allowed to play them at school; selling books, games and toys that were no longer needed; making games, like 'Pin the tail on the Cow'; raffles, lucky dips, guessing the names of teddies; writing stories and drawing Simpson pictures and selling them. One child in Year 5 did a sponsored swim and raised over £250 by swimming 104 lengths. There has been family involvement as well, with parents helping to make cakes, biscuits and badges, making toast during playtime and counting out money raised. Special mention must be made of Ms. Merriman who spent hours cutting the hair of both pupils and staff and donated all the proceeds to the project. Thank you to all who have been heavily involved. There has been a fantastic effort by the pupils and their families. Mrs. Llewellyn was able to share with the pupils and parents that the total raised, amounted to £1,292... and there was still some money outstanding. This means that not only can the school buy a cow, they can also buy a pair of oxen, a pair of goats and maybe a donkey or two. It is humbling to think that children and families in Uganda will benefit for many years from these efforts of just three weeks. A special thank you, to all the pupils and their families for supporting this worthwhile cause, and also for sending in tins and packets of produce that will be used locally by the Salvation Army for their Christmas hamper project. A line from one of the Harvest songs sums up the ethos at Tenby Junior School - 'We're sending our love around the world, wherever it's needed most'. In November, they will continue to show their care and compassion by taking part in the Operation Christmas Child Shoe Box Appeal.

School Ambassadors

An important event in the school calendar took place this week, the annual elections for school ambassadors. Twenty children put themselves forward in their pairs of boy and girl, with each pair giving a presentation as to why they should be elected during assembly in front of all the pupils and staff. Everyone was very impressed by the standard of the presentations. The elections took place on Wednesday morning when every pupil voted for the pair of their choice. The ambassadors for 2007-2008 school year are Ella Brindley and Charles Stewart-Walvin. Both were delighted to have been elected and look forward to a busy year ahead. The school has had strong links with the Children's Commissioner over the past few years and was one of only six schools in Wales selected to work on developing the Ambassadors Scheme. This year again the ambassadors will work with 14 other schools in Wales to develop the scheme further. They have received their 'Ambassadors Tool Kit' from the Commissioner's Office, which last year's ambassadors and class representatives were involved with developing in the design stages. Both Ella and Charles are looking forward to the year ahead and will represent their school at various events and meetings within the school and the wider community.