Maldivian School Project

Maldivian School Project

During an assembly Miss Fancy shared a story about her visit to a Maldivian School. The children found out where the Maldives was and a learnt a little bit about its culture and what day to day life is like. The island they learnt about was very isolated and underdeveloped. The children described their homes as basic and small. This community doesn’t have as many material things like us, they live on a beautiful white sand island with their very own coconut tree. They have a very calm and relaxed way of life. Children were able to see the similarities and differences between how well kept everything was and were able to discuss how important it is to cherish and be thankful for the things we do have and how important it is to look after our belongings. We spoke a lot about ‘Respect’ in our behavour motto- Ready, Respectful, Safe.

At the centre of this island and at the heart of everything, was the most incredible school! This community didn’t have a lot but everything they did,they ploughed into their school. The children were just as amazed by the photos Miss Fancy showed them when she visited the Maldives back in December. She was able to explain how some of the elements had been built using materials from local resorts. The mis-match pathing and paint, just made her heart sing, she was so taken by this school and what it represented. The communities dedication and contributing to their children’s education is everything they have! With little or nothing, they created an amasing school. Miss Fancy doesn’t think it’s a coincidence that it’s located in the centre of the island, as it really is at the heart of everything they do!

Miss Fancy has been so inspired by this gorgeous school that she has brought a little bit of this Maldivian spirit back to King’s Court with her. Follwowing on from our assembly, the children wrote suggestions on post it notes and we recruited 3 ambassadors to help form a plan to bring our own little Maldivian School project to life. The children decided we should first start with our playgrounds and the wild life area. Our plan started with the idea of some community days and links with local businesses over the summer and to invite our parents, children, neighbours and families into school to help us paint, build and create a little bit of our own Maldivian spirit.

Due to our current COVID restrictions these community open days have been postponded, however we have started to form some partnerships with local companies. Initially, this has been within our immediate bubbles to keep everything safe. We have formed a partnership with Johnson’s paint who have supplied us with the most incredible amount and colours of paint to brighten up our school. Our painting company, DD Services, has had lots of fun painting the multi coloured fence by the Early Years and Key Stage 1 – which I’m sure you have all noticed, as it is very bright!! We have had Berkshire Gardener, Sarah Want and Neil Dodds, our chair of governors, clearing and maintaining areas across the school grounds. Key Stage 1 will notice our partnership with AJFCarpentary who has donated 2 full days of their time to start to create a wonderful wooden construction area and mud kitchen in our Key Stage 1 playground.

Our community has already helped us with so much, we have received lots of donations of materials such as tyres, piping, reels, artificial grass and paint. This has replicated the system the Maldivian School has of recycling material from the local resorts and islands as they have renovations. We haven’t had to get the material shipped in but instead collected and sourced with the wonderful help of Mrs Want.

Mrs. Want continues to work with the community to tidy up our school and front entrance...

During the holidays Mrs. Want has worked with the Old Windsor community.  There was an over-whelming response to her requests for seeds, pots, plants, bulbs, soil and paint on the We Love Old Windsor Facebook group. Mr. Worthington has also spent time at school jet-washing the patio area at the front of the school. The children and parents from King's Court will be absolutely thrilled with the transformation of our school entrance! 

I would also like to give another huge THANK-YOU to the Windsor community for your support and wish you all the best during this uncertain time. We are so lucky to have people like you in our community who are using their time for such valuable projects. We couldn't have done it without you!

Please enjoy the pictures below that really do show all the hard work and dedication from Mrs. Want and Mr. Worthington!  THANK-YOU from all of us at King's Court.

Now as we celebrate a fabulous first term back at school we are looking for anymore partnerships we can create either with local companies providing us with their ‘waste items’ such as Baker Tyres for providing us with over 35 tyres! :0) or if any companies have the opportunity of offering ‘time’ we know there are many businesses, who have a quota of ‘man hours’ to volunteer in the community, who might be able to help us develop an area in our school. These types of partnerships help us all.

We look forward to continue this Maldivian School Project and to develop our own school community team of ambassadors, inviting families to come into school to help out when it is safe to do so.

Miss Fancy ended the assembly asking what this Maldivian school had ‘really’ been made from...... the children replied -

‘From Love’

Do you have a specialist job, skill or time that could support our school community? Could you help us continue to develop our beautiful school, to continue to be the heart of Old Windsor - just like the Maldivian School. If you think you can help please don’t hesitate to contact Miss Fancy through Class Dojo or send a email to the school office. This is such an exciting project which we will continue to develop within our current restrictions.

Our next projects-

Early Years Outside Area

We were so excited to have our next project start in the October half term. We had a team of voluntering staff and families to help us remove the early years outside flooring during the half term. In the run up to the Easter holiday we are hoping to be able to have the sand delivered (dependant on current restrictions) for the next stage of this project. Please send Miss Fancy or Miss Powell a message on Class Dojo if you are available to help out or would like more information.

Wildlife Garden Project

Miss Mears has created a wonderful plan for the wildlife garden and we are looking forward to construction starting in the spring! We will keep you posted on the Wildlife Garden page below. Please let us know if you have any materials, tools, expertises or time which you think might help with this project.

Outside Learning Project

Visit our outside learning tab below to see all key stage 1 playground design. Follow our progress as we continue to work with the local community to develop out outside learning provision. You can see a lot has already happened and we are very excited about this Spring and Summer when the children will be able to start planting and enjoy the new role play areas. Please see our next steps and contact Miss Fancy if you would like to offer some help or resources along the way.