Pupils and families at Charleton C of E Academy and West Alvington C of E Academy, which are part of the Learning Academy Partnership, celebrated their annual harvest with a donation drive for Kingsbridge Area Food Bank.

The children and the families collected a range of necessities for the food bank, including dry goods, tins, hygiene items and many more useful household items.

The success of the donation drive will aid the food bank in helping to prevent and relieve poverty in Kingsbridge and the surrounding villages.

The bank aims to achieve this primarily through the provision of food, hygiene and household products, but also related additional services, assistance and support for those in need.

Children and staff from both academies will visit the food bank in person to hand deliver the donated goods, in addition to seeing the work the bank does first-hand.

The opportunity to visit the food bank and see the terrific work being done will help the children to build on their understanding of taking responsibility and showing kindness to others – two values which the academies are keen to promote.

As part of the harvest festivities, the children also shared their harvest themed poetry, artwork and even songs with their families and staff.

Many attendees agreed the highlight of the night was seeing the new Nursery children singing in church for the first time. The children really enjoyed taking part in the Harvest Festival celebrations and being able to help those in their local community through their donation drive.

Katie Coombe, Headteacher at Charleton C of E Academy and West Alvington C of E Academy, said: “I am incredibly proud of our pupils for their hard work and enthusiasm for collecting donations for such a worthwhile cause.”

“We are committed to teaching our children about the Christian values of compassion, and it is so great to be able to link this to an important project that supports those in our community.”