During the coronavirus crisis, the children and staff at Greasbrough Primary School have worked extremely hard to support the local community.
Y12 NEMESIS Project: Supporting Animal Welfare
Our class NEMESIS project, linked to our Fur, Skin and Feathers topic, aimed to stop unnecessary hunger for animals. The children decided we could do this by helping animal 
charities/non-profit organisations that look after homeless animals.
Before coronavirus school closures, we enjoyed a fantastic animal care workshop in school, run by the PDSA charity and this inspired us to collect food, toys and accessories that could be made into hampers for unfortunate animals. We wrote to our families and emailed local businesses to invite community participation in our project. In addition to our own collecting, we gained contributions from Jenatex Dance Wear, Tesco (Rotherham), Morrisons (Parkgate) and Pets at home (Cortonwood).
Due to lockdown, and PDSA being unable to collect from us, we democratically decided to pass our contributions to a local animal shelter. We were aware that one animal shelter was appealing for contributions – this actually turned into two, as we managed to pass on our items to both Netherlands Boarding Kennels and Barnsley and District Animal Welfare in one visit.
Y5 NEMESIS Project: Supporting People’s Access to Essentials
Before the coronavirus crisis, we had planned to start a project with our local food banks to increase their supply and promote food banks in our local community.
After school closures, children from Greasbrough Primary School and Roughwood Primary School had their first co-creation lab with Andrea Brookes from Clifton Learning Partnership. It was amazing to hear about the work currently being done to support the CLP and work together to develop ideas.
Here the children found out that, not only had the reliance of food banks increased due to people losing their jobs in the pandemic, but that basic essentials such as soap were not being included in food parcels. This was vitally important to protect the community during the coronavirus pandemic.
Over lockdown, we have worked with the Clifton Learning Partnership to provide excess food to support families who are struggling. We will now continue to work with the Clifton Learning Partnership and LocoSo to provide soap and shower gels for those who need these essentials. Watch this space…
Foundation Stage NEMESIS Project: Grow Your Own
As many in the UK struggled to access food due to shortages in our supermarkets our foundation stage decided to take action and grow their own. During the school closures children used their daily exercise allowance to walk to school and collect a growing pack.
This included soil, seeds and pots so that they could be grown both inside and outside the home. We hope that the children can not only grow enough to feed their families but will also be able to donate some of what they have grown to their community to support those who are most vulnerable.
Key Stage Two NEMESIS: The Greasbrough Park Project
Last year, Y4 at Greasbrough Primary School started a project to regenerate their local park. What they did not know is what an important contribution they would make to their society a year later… 
Over the coronavirus pandemic, the park has been a sanctuary to many who have been able to use it to get outside their homes, take exercise and enjoy the sunshine. Their hard work, along with the hard work of the Friends of Greasbrough Park and Rotherham Park Rangers, has meant that people can go for a walk, gather in government allowed groups and has even meant that people can access herbs and spices for cooking at a time when supermarkets were empty.
This year the wildflowers which Y4 planted came back and made some beautiful flower beds and the litter picking which had taken place before the crisis made it a tidy place to be. As we get back to normal, children will now continue to clean their park, plant new shrubs and are working with Sheffield Forgemasters to create a litterbug to promote recycling in the park.
This is a project which we look forward to developing for many years to come.
