As part of its Harvest Festival this year, pupils from Abbotsbury Primary School are donating gifts to refugees who currently live in Merton.

Abbotsbury School Council with all the donations they have collected. (L-r) Yvette Stanley (Director of Children, Schools and Families at Merton Council), Jackie Schneider (teacher at Abbotsbury) and Cllr Maxi Martin went along to see the work the children had done in gathering donations.

The children were inspired by footage from the national Guardian’s film We Walk Together, which follows a Syrian family leaving Syria. They wanted the donations to be toiletries which the council’s social workers would give to those refugees for whom Merton is already home.

Abbotsbury Primary School pupils also contribute to the Merton Food Bank.

Merton Council’s cabinet member for children’s services Councillor Maxi Martin said: “I am so proud of the young people at Abbotsbury School who have wanted to do this. The refugees who are living in Merton have found a safe place to live, but life is still unbelievably tough for them. They are far away from home and many are missing loved ones, so this act of kindness will mean a lot.”

Head teacher at Abbotsbury School Rowena Maybury said: “As ever I am amazed by the love and generosity shown by our children and their families towards those less fortunate than themselves.”

On behalf of the whole of the school council, Yoana Georgieva (9) said: “We wanted refugees to feel welcome and comfortable. Lots of people have been kind to us so we wanted to be kind to the refugees.”

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