Starting point
As part of our class text ‘Meet me by the Steelmen’ the children visited the steelmen and the steel heart in Meadowhall. They became interested in the local history and in particular the history of Hadfields, the steel factory that was knocked down on the site where Meadowhall now stands.
We discussed the plans for the steel heart to be put inside a statue to be erected in the place of where the two cooling towers one stood. The children then researched further into the steel history of Sheffield and we watched a video of the towers being demolished.
Alongside this, we studied healthy eating as part of our science topic and the effects of having a healthy or unhealthy diet.
This linked well with the steel heart because there was an initiative to raise money for the British heart foundation in exchange for having a name engraved on the heart.
Children’s ideas
The children were keen to promote healthy living and healthy hearts and this led to raising money for the British heart foundation. This then led to the children wanting our class name engraved on the steel heart. We discussed fundraising ideas and decided that this should be an active challenge because this promotes a healthy lifestyle and exercise.
As a class, we decided to take part in the skip a mile around the school grounds.
Community members
We sent class emails to the BHF to make them aware of our project and then we had a video call meeting with the head of the fundraising department for Rotherham. She gave lots of useful ideas about fundraising and lots of i ainformation about heart disease and healthy living.
The school community were invited us to get involved and help to raise money by donating to our fundraiser event.
Outcomes
The children raised over £150 and have had their name engraved on the steel heart. They were featured in the local newspaper. They continue to raise awareness of the importance of a healthy lifestyle and have plans to create leaflets and posters to promote this.
