Young Changemakers Reindeer Run at Exeter School

Exeter School and Hospiscare has teamed up on a unique project to give sixth form pupils the opportunity to become young ambassadors for end-of-life care. The programme itself has launched recently and involves a series of workshops with Hospiscare’s Learning and Development team, as well as opportunities to volunteer and fundraise for the local hospice charity.

Earlier this week, the eight pupil ambassadors, all studying in sixth form, hosted a Reindeer Run event for the entire Exeter Junior School at lunchtime. Pupils had decorated reindeer headbands last week to excitedly prepare and learn about what the event was in aid of. They donned colourful bibs to showcase team-spirit to create a sense of competition and collaboration with members of their own and others house teams.

This was all brought together with cheer as our sixth form pupils provided race stations along the way dressed in festive costumes, honing the play lists to blast ‘Run, Run Rudolph’.

Exeter School’s Head of Year (Upper Sixth), Aoife-Jane Culley, said: “We are delighted to be part of the Young Changemakers programme and are grateful to Hospiscare for creating such a valuable opportunity for our pupils.

“As a school, we place a lot of emphasis on character development and this programme allows the Lower Sixth pupils involved the chance to develop their understanding of what it means to serve the community and to learn more about the vital work that Hospiscare undertakes. Educating younger pupils was the focus of the run and it was really good fun to see everyone out in high spirits fundraising for Hospiscare.”

To ensure that no one was missed off the Christmas list, facilities supervisor, Andy Cox, also provided a couple of injured pupils with a gator ride around the route being followed – truly indicative of the ethos of Exeter School in offering a supportive culture of pastoral care and character development to all.

We look forward to sharing more shared projects as the joint venture continues into the new year.

For any local secondary schools or colleges who would be interested in running a similar programme with Hospiscare, please visit www.hospiscare.co.uk/young-changemakers or contact Laura by emailing l.robertson@hospiscare.co.uk.