The charity work undertaken last term by pupils at the ELIS Villamartín international school allowed it’s students to learn more about the concept of “global citizenship.”
By working together with local charities, in particular with a local animal charities, they were able to learn about compassion and empathy toward others.
One such relationship, that has already borne important fruits, is with Finca La Castellana where it has been possible to create awareness, both among students and among the rest of the school community (parents, teachers and staff in general), and, in addition, where the bond has already provided a clear return, with the collection of hundreds of euros in cash, as well as food products for dogs and cats.
The project was organised by Primary students thanks to, among other initiatives, the sale of cakes and biscuits cooked by the children themselves.
It has also resulted in adoptions, animal sponsorship and registration of volunteers who walk the dogs, an initiative that is soon to take a step further with the adoption by the school of a new-born donkey in La Finca.
“We are confident that this relationship will generate sustained interest over time, giving our students more opportunities not only to track his progress, but also to visit the donkey as well as the other animals personally,” explained Rebecca Burns, Primary teacher and coordinator of the project. “In addition, this relationship will provide our Duke of Edinburgh international programme students with the perfect opportunity to complete their weekly volunteering skill for our chosen charity.”
After an initial visit to learn about the wonderful work this shelter does, the volunteers visited ELIS Villamartin, with two of their rescued dogs, to talk to the students about the importance of their work. This visit was very well received and had a great impact on all the students and teachers involved.
Finca La Castellana is a project that began almost 25 years ago as a family initiative in San Miguel de Salinas where it provides rescue and a home for animals that had been abused or abandoned.
During all this time, it has supported more than 3,000 animals, something that has been possible thanks to volunteering and fundraising to cover the costs of feeding, veterinary services and maintenance.
“We have found that our way forward for the future is to engage with schools and their students to be aware of how to help, to inform them to get involved in the education of their pets at home and the responsibility we all have to the animals we choose to share our home with them,” said Janette Margaret, charity secretary of Finca La Castellana.
And this is not the only charity work carried out by ELIS Villamartin, where many different environmental, technological and aid initiatives carried out last year with different local groups, amounted to 13,000 euros.
