SEEVIC College's first Roots & Shoots Update

We are a new Roots & Shoots group at Seevic College and have not as yet ran any projects. We have been canvassing the student population on projects that they would like our group to carry out. The students have responded in large numbers and proposed a large number of projects . At the awards we will be presenting a number of projects that we will be commencing in the Summer term at Seevic college.Firstly we will set a partnership up with our local Dod's Trust Hope Project which helps dogs whose owners are homeless or in a housing crisis https://www.moretodogstrust.org.uk/hope-project/hope-projectHomeless people/in a housing crisis are in an extremely difficult situation where they don't have a secure warm place to stay and often their pet dog is their only companion during this very difficult stage in their lives. People in these situations struggle to feed and keep themselves warm let alone their best friend - their dogs. We aim to carry out a collection drive at the college for various sizes of dog coats and blankets, leads, collars and dog food. We will place the collection box in the study hub so it will be monitored at all times and when it is full bring to our local Dog's trust branch so they can distribute the resources to the homeless people they are in contact with.We will also be running a collection for the refuges at Calais in Nothern France. The people in the camp known as the jungle include pregnant women and even unaccompanied children. Many of these people have fled war zones with very few possessions and some with just the clothes on their backs. The conditions at this camp are appalling: with a lack of clean water and food and their are living in shacks or tents in freezing temperatures. We aim to collect warm clothes for all ages and blankets, tents and sleeping bags, non perishable food and clean drinking water. We will place the collection box in the study hub so it will be monitored at all times and when it is full one of our teachers at the college will be personally be driving the donations to calais and distributing to the refuges.One of our students wants to travel to Africa to volunteer to build schools, I have put her in touch with a charity I have personal experience with called Soft Power Education in Ugandahttp://www.softpowereducation.com/. This charity has a contract with the Ugandan government where they go into state run schools and carry out refurbishments. Many of these schools are so run down that they are unsafe for the children and not fit for purpose. We aim to carry out a number of fundraising activities in the college to send a student out their to carry out this important work. A number of the fundraisers proposed to raise the funds include Wear your onesie to college day with all students paying a pound. A photography competition where all students pay an entry fee and the prizes will be donated by the college and from local businesses. There will then be show to display the entries where guests will be asked to make a donation and a raffle will be carried out at the event.The money raised will go towards the cost of the flight to Africa and a contribution to the charity to help pay for building equipment.We also want to run an awareness campaign into the plight of animals on both puppy farms and also in circuses. The standard of living for these animals is shocking and their a concerns for their physical and mental health. Most people are not aware of the horrific training animals have to endure to perform in circuses or where their puppies come from when they buy them. The aim of this project is to raise awareness on these topics. This will be done by the students involved researching these topics and putting together a presentation that they will present to the rest of the college at assemblies, we will also produce informational posters to distribute to the college staff and students.All of our projects will be promoted by utilising the large monitors dotted around the college and all personal tutors will relay information to their tutor groups.