Year 5 Service Project

Year 5 made us tremendously proud this week due to the way that they approached their service project. Their love and compassion for animals was at the heart of our project over the past few weeks and it was wonderful to witness the activism that was present in the Undercroft on Wednesday afternoon.

From our visit to the Wildlife Friends Foundation back in January, it was apparent to the children that various species of animals were being treated unfairly and they felt very strongly about giving a voice to those animals to make others aware of the things that those animals have experienced.

We have been working on a range of artwork that was both hard-hitting and shocking as we wanted to really grab people’s attention and we certainly didn’t want to shy away from the seriousness of the issue. We had posters that showed a role reversal between humans and animals with humans in cages and human-skin rugs and handbags; posters that highlighted the endangered status of many wild animals; portraits of animals as clowns to highlight the ways that animals are wrongly used for entertainment; graffiti on elephants and eye-catching banners with protest slogans.

Perhaps the most powerful feature of the exhibition were the leaflets that the children had designed and created to raise awareness of the ways that various animals (including tigers, rhinos, elephants, sun bears and gibbons) are treated and threatened by poaching and the illegal wildlife trade. The children had researched and written very detailed leaflets, which were photocopied and distributed to members of our school community to spread the word about this important issue. The children were actively talking to a range of parents, teachers and students to share their knowledge and raise awareness and that was very inspiring to see.

We also took donations and sold Protest Popcorn (in boxes designed by the children) to raise money for the WFFT, which will go towards the care and rehabilitation of rescued animals. In total, we raised 9,442THB.

Thank you to all of the parents and teachers that attended our exhibition and well done to all of the children for their passion and enthusiasm.