InCommon

Christ Church (Erith) CofE Primary School has partnered with In Common Living to develop an outreach programme with members of our local community.

 

Making a meaningful contribution to the world is important to our wellbeing. We believe that older people have lots to give and our programmes offer real opportunities to make a difference. Our programmes help all involved to feel special for taking part. Learning enriches life, at every age. Our programmes are educational experiences; the aim is that everyone learns something new. The programme thrives on energy. It’s really important to us as a school and a partnership, that no one is left out: we work hard to remove generational barriers through our partnership and help everyone, of every age, take part as much as they can.

 

The learn more about the InCommon Programme, and how it makes a positive impact on the lives of those in our community, please click here (and look for the Purple Christ Church school jumpers!)

 

We are privileged to receive lots of positive feedback from our venture:

 

"Today I visited Lambert court with year 3. It was a lovely afternoon and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The residents clearly enjoy having young children around and I saw plenty of animated conversations and smiles from the old and young. One lady said her grandchildren are grown up and that she has no great grandchildren, so these organised activities are the only chance she has of mixing with children and having ‘young ones around’, which is something she values but misses. The children were asked to be interviewers and question the residents. I overheard one question asked to an elderly gentleman “What technology did you have when you were young?” Seeing the faces of the children at his response, was hilarious when he said "Nothing, not even a fridge until I was grown up and married!"

 

There were no quiet awkward moments and everyone was engaged for in excess of an hour and everyone clearly enjoyed the exchange and time spent together. It was lovely to see the school children happily chatting, interested and engaged with the elderly ladies and gentleman, these kinds of sessions can only improve relationships across age groups and communities and having personal experience with my own mum in residential care, I know just how much pleasure she gets from spending time with children."