Glapton Primary and Nursery

A breakfast meeting with a difference for PricwaterhouseCoopers staff

Volunteers from PricewaterhouseCoopers went back to school for the day to help promote healthy eating through the launch of a PwC sponsored ‘Cares for Kids Breakfast Club' at Glapton Primary School in Clifton .

The ‘Cares for Kids' initiative is part of the Nottingham Cares programme, co-ordinated by Business in the Community. Such breakfast clubs provide children with a healthy breakfast, which is proven to help aid their concentration, attendance and social interaction. They also offer a valuable opportunity to educate children on the benefits of a healthy diet and nutrition.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has been a long-standing supporter of ‘Cares' and actively encourages its people to take time out of their day to support worthwhile projects in the local community. The new breakfast club at Glapton Primary school marks a further step forward in the firm's regional community programme and is something its people feel passionate about.

Caroline de Lamo White, East Midlands Assurance Associate and Nottingham ‘Cares' co-ordinator said:

“We are delighted to lend our time and support to Glapton Primary School and are excited to see the breakfast club finally up and running after many months of fundraising. The response from staff to our appeal has been overwhelming and in a relatively short space of time we have all rallied together to meet our target. Being here at the launch and helping to run the club brings home how much our contribution is valued and makes me feel proud to have been part of making this happen.”

In order to get the club started and ensure it was sustainable, staff organised a whole host of fundraising activities including several charitable raffles, coffee mornings, and even a ‘silent auction' for a Leicester City football shirt. Volunteers have also signed up to help support the club on an ad-hoc basis by serving toast and cereal, chatting with the children and playing a game or two before class starts.

Sheila Elliott, Headteacher at Glapton Primary School said:

Healthy Eating has been a focus for our school for a number of years: we were one of the first schools in the City to gain a Healthy Schools Award for Healthy Eating. The tremendous contribution made by PwC to support our school is very much appreciated. We will be now able to offer a free breakfast to all our year 5 and year 6 children. Although it is early days, the enthusiasm from our children is extremely encouraging. The volunteers are a great asset to the school with their cheerful willingness to help us. Their team spirit is infectious and they are quickly becoming part of our team too. We are looking forward to more projects together in the future.

The £3,000 raised will support the club for a full year but the firm's commitment does not end there as the East Midlands office has already agreed to continue funding the club longer-term. To mark the launch of the new scheme, a team of 12 PwC volunteers spent the remainder of the day transforming part of the school grounds to create an allotment and picnic area for the children to enjoy. This latest ‘Cares' project is the fourth of its kind completed by East Midlands staff over the last year and in this instance has been designed to support the school's healthy eating programme. The new allotment will enable the children to learn ‘hands-on' about nutrition and diet, while much of the produce grown will directly benefit the club.

Jeremy King, East Midlands Senior Partner said:

“As a firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers encourages staff to support the local community by lending a hand where there is an opportunity to do so. The truth is we do have a good many people within our organisation who for truly altruistic reasons want to put what are usually excellent skills and experience to good effect to serve the wider community. Added to this, we feel it simply makes good sense to leverage the strength of our networks in support of projects such as ‘Cares' where we know we can make a real difference.”

The ‘Cares' programme is just one of a number of charitable and community based initiatives supported by the firm in the region. Others include the Prince's Trust, businessdynamics, Young Enterprise, and Right to Read. The Young Enterprise and Right to Read programmes alone are supported by over 60 PwC volunteers, working in eight East Midlands schools on a regular basis. These chosen activities are linked together by a focus on raising educational achievement, developing employability skills and encouraging enterprise and active citizenship.