By Chris Cornford
Pupils from a Cowes primary school have sent an Easter card and chocolate to patients in Afton Ward at St Mary’s Hospital as part of an inter-generational project.
Lanesend Primary School is in the third year of a partnership which sees pupils and teachers visiting patients in the ward which is a 12-bed acute admission unit for older people experiencing severe mental health problems. The children have been holding video calls to the patients who recently sent them a thank you poster.
Lizzie Westbrook, the Year 3 teacher, said: “I visited Afton Ward last week to deliver an Easter card from Year 3. We also took them up a basket of Easter chocolate treats so they can hold their own egg hunt.
“Daisy, our therapy dog, came along with me and was a definite hit with the staff and patients.
“We hope that when we are able to take groups again, Daisy will be able to come too. I was able to meet with some of the staff and patients in the ward garden where we spoke about what Daisy does at school and possible future visits.
“We have also had a ‘GoTo’ meeting in which each Year 3 class joined in, along with patients and staff from the ward.
“We shared our learning from the week, highlights of the week and what we were looking forward to, while the staff and patients told us their highlights.
“We were also shown a view of the ward and the children made suggestions of where to hide the eggs. We aim to repeat this on a weekly basis as a way of sharing our learning from the week.”
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