Children at Pontefract school help make special collage for their friends

Nichola Tonkinson, early years foundation stage leader, came up with the idea after realising that a lot of the children were missing their classmates, after speaking to each of them over the phone.

Nichola said: “After realising how much they were missing one and other, I thought I can’t physically put them side by side, but we could do it virtually.

“I asked all the parents and children to pick a positive word and to make a poster with the word as the centre.

“It made a really lovely collage in the end, we use an app that allows us to keep in contact with the parents and pupils we posted it on there for all to see.

“Everyone was made up with it, the parents loved the idea and the childrens had fun spotting their friends in the picture and reading their words.”

She worked with colleague Kayleigh Hemsworth to create the collage of the reception pupils holding up positive messages for their friends.

The Rookeries staff have been busy thinking of ways to keep their pupils smiling in these unprecedented times.

Nichola said: “We also did a staff video at the, our school song is ‘Count On Me’ by Bruno Mars, so the teachers each joined in to make a special video to that song.

“We’ve seen staff in other schools doing these kinds of videos, so we wanted to go a step further so we did actions and mimed the words.

“The intention is just to keep the kids smiling, I know they are happy with their parents at home but not everyone is happy with the situation, so we’re doing everything we can to make it a bit easier for them.”