13 Mar 2023
St Mary and St Michael Primary School – situated in Shadwell, East London – recently committed to London’s Air Ambulance Charity’s Create-a-Copter challenge, in which every pupil created a model helicopter to fundraise for our vital service.
The inspiration began when our Learning and Outreach Manager, Rhiannon Evans, visited the school to tell the children all about our life-saving charity.
“Rhiannon was so passionate,” said Eiméar Donaghy, Head of PHSE. “The children were so inspired and loved hearing about the air ambulance they see almost every day flying above their playground.
“The air ambulance holds a huge place in East Londoners’ hearts, they really know of its importance and want to do what they can to support it.”
After her talks with each school year, Rhiannon met with Eiméar and the school council. “We are focusing on citizenship within our local community,” said Eiméar, “and so fundraising for our local air ambulance was the perfect project. It really made a difference raising money for a charity that the children have seen in real life.”
Create-a-Copter was the chosen competition and so Eiméar held an assembly to remind the children about London’s Air Ambulance Charity, the important work it does and the current Up Against Time appeal. “The children were shocked about how much money you need – £15 million is a lot! – but they all really wanted to help.”
Every child in every year was then sent home with a sponsorship form and a letter about the air ambulance for their parents. A deadline of two and half weeks was set and some creative ideas of how to build a model helicopter shared.
“We’re an eco-friendly school, so we encouraged the children to use recyclable materials, looking at what was in their recycling to build their models.”
On a specific day, every child brought in their homemade model helicopter. “My classroom looked like helicopter-land!” laughed Eiméar. All the models were then showcased in class groups and every pupil throughout the day inspected the displays and voted for their favourite model.
“They took it very seriously! They spent a lot of time really judging each creation, it was brilliant. The children also shared their stories about when they had seen the real-life helicopter and what they knew about it.”
Altogether, with help from the children, their parents and families, St Mary and St Michael school have raised £2,435 through Create-a-Copter. We are so grateful for their fundraising efforts and incredibly impressed by their creative skills!
“The model made of spaghetti really made me laugh, I didn’t think anyone would do that. There are also ones with propellers that actually spin, they were amazing.
“As a school this competition was brilliant – there were so many cross-curricular links: design, technology, science, art. The children also absolutely loved doing it.”
We are so thankful to St Mary and St Michael school and hope to further educate children in London about the life-saving work we do. If you would like to organize a visit from Rhiannon, please do get in touch.
In the meantime, Create-a-Copter is available for all, so if you’re interested in hosting the competition at your own school or within your community, access the resources here. We look forward to seeing your creations!