The second annual Heroes Day will see pupils dressing up as the person who most inspires them and raising money for charity while they do it. Primary school teacher and founder Danny Glavin urges you to get involved
So often we hear on the news that another young life has been claimed by armed conflict. It has become such a regular occurrence that we tend to ignore it. It only hits home if a life of someone you know is tragically taken.
When I heard the news that a football team-mate of mine had died while serving in Afghanistan, I was determined to raise as much money in his memory as possible. Marine Richard Hollington became the 300th member of our armed services to die in Afghanistan since the start of the conflict.
During the summer holidays last August, I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro for Help for Heroes. To maximise fundraising I came up with the idea of holding a “Heroes Day” within schools across the region that surrounds the school where I work in Hampshire.
As a teacher, I have some links in the education sector and started meeting with headteachers to get as many schools participating as possible. There was a fabulous response and support was soon drummed up from a wealth of schools in the region.The idea behind Heroes Day is that teachers and pupils pay a donation to come to school dressed as their hero – anyone who inspires them, with all donations going to Help for Heroes.
Many schools taught pupils the difference between celebrity and hero in the build up and the result was an almost total lack of football shirts on the day. Robin Hollington, Richard’s father, also worked hard to drive Heroes Day and the idea was even celebrated by David Cameron in the House of Commons during Prime Minister’s Question Time.
On October 21, which fittingly coincides with Trafalgar Day, the first annual Heroes Day was held in schools across the country. The day raised £60,000 with schools participating across the UK. It was a fantastic success with children and teachers coming into school dressed as a huge variety of personal heroes.
I experienced the success of Heroes Day in the primary school I teach in. Pupils came dressed as their grandfathers proudly displaying old war medals, they dressed as their mums and dads in police uniforms, nurse gowns and construction workers. There was Albert Einstein, Lord Admiral Nelson, suffragettes and even super-hero outfits. Refreshingly, there was hardly a football shirt in sight.
There were so many inspirational choices. One pupil came as “nana, who contracted TB many years ago, caught an infection resulting in a crumbling hip and spent five years in a body cast, never grumbling once”.
The structure of Heroes Day differed from school to school. The schools I visited all had their own individual twists. In a number of schools, a short homework task was set for children to research their hero to bring to school on the day. These were then presented within classes to create class “hero walls”. Some schools opted to create whole-school hero walls.
Some children created small posters about their heroes. For the younger pupils, this was as simple as drawing a picture and writing words to describe their hero, such as brave, strong, self-sacrificing, fearless, trustworthy. Class discussions were held examining which words are appropriate and what they mean. For the older children, work was set researching their hero and explaining why their hero had been chosen. Some fabulous PowerPoint presentations were delivered.
Another idea was to put all pupils’ heroes into a class booklet which parents could view after school. The combination of the heroes wall and class hero booklets worked well in involving parents.
The feedback from children and teachers was hugely positive. Headteachers endorsed the success of the day with a key factor being the fantastic opportunity to explain to children the difference between heroism and celebrity.
One head described how “known trouble-makers sat still, listening in awe during assemblies and classes, when learning about true heroism”. All the schools we contacted said how successful the day was and how blown away teachers were with the engagement of the children.
This year, Heroes Day is set to be even bigger and I invite your school to get involved and join in fundraising for such a worthy cause.
Heroes Day 2012 is on October 21 – a Sunday – so we anticipate schools to participate during the preceding week. However, this will be solely at the convenience of each individual school – as a teacher, I understand the need for flexible dates.
Your school’s support for this worthy cause would not only be greatly appreciated, but will also benefit the lives of so many injured heroes.
For details and to register, visit the Heroes Day website.
CAPTION: Heroes Day 2011 is celebrated at Leesland Junior School in Gosport
• Danny Glavin is the founder of Heroes Day and a teacher at a primary school in Hampshire.
• For more primary education best practice and advisory articles from Headteacher Update, click here.
When I heard the news that a football team-mate of mine had died while serving in Afghanistan, I was determined to raise as much money in his memory as possible. Marine Richard Hollington became the 300th member of our armed services to die in Afghanistan since the start of the conflict.
During the summer holidays last August, I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro for Help for Heroes. To maximise fundraising I came up with the idea of holding a “Heroes Day” within schools across the region that surrounds the school where I work in Hampshire.
As a teacher, I have some links in the education sector and started meeting with headteachers to get as many schools participating as possible. There was a fabulous response and support was soon drummed up from a wealth of schools in the region.The idea behind Heroes Day is that teachers and pupils pay a donation to come to school dressed as their hero – anyone who inspires them, with all donations going to Help for Heroes.
Many schools taught pupils the difference between celebrity and hero in the build up and the result was an almost total lack of football shirts on the day. Robin Hollington, Richard’s father, also worked hard to drive Heroes Day and the idea was even celebrated by David Cameron in the House of Commons during Prime Minister’s Question Time.
On October 21, which fittingly coincides with Trafalgar Day, the first annual Heroes Day was held in schools across the country. The day raised £60,000 with schools participating across the UK. It was a fantastic success with children and teachers coming into school dressed as a huge variety of personal heroes.
I experienced the success of Heroes Day in the primary school I teach in. Pupils came dressed as their grandfathers proudly displaying old war medals, they dressed as their mums and dads in police uniforms, nurse gowns and construction workers. There was Albert Einstein, Lord Admiral Nelson, suffragettes and even super-hero outfits. Refreshingly, there was hardly a football shirt in sight.
There were so many inspirational choices. One pupil came as “nana, who contracted TB many years ago, caught an infection resulting in a crumbling hip and spent five years in a body cast, never grumbling once”.
The structure of Heroes Day differed from school to school. The schools I visited all had their own individual twists. In a number of schools, a short homework task was set for children to research their hero to bring to school on the day. These were then presented within classes to create class “hero walls”. Some schools opted to create whole-school hero walls.
Some children created small posters about their heroes. For the younger pupils, this was as simple as drawing a picture and writing words to describe their hero, such as brave, strong, self-sacrificing, fearless, trustworthy. Class discussions were held examining which words are appropriate and what they mean. For the older children, work was set researching their hero and explaining why their hero had been chosen. Some fabulous PowerPoint presentations were delivered.
Another idea was to put all pupils’ heroes into a class booklet which parents could view after school. The combination of the heroes wall and class hero booklets worked well in involving parents.
The feedback from children and teachers was hugely positive. Headteachers endorsed the success of the day with a key factor being the fantastic opportunity to explain to children the difference between heroism and celebrity.
One head described how “known trouble-makers sat still, listening in awe during assemblies and classes, when learning about true heroism”. All the schools we contacted said how successful the day was and how blown away teachers were with the engagement of the children.
This year, Heroes Day is set to be even bigger and I invite your school to get involved and join in fundraising for such a worthy cause.
Heroes Day 2012 is on October 21 – a Sunday – so we anticipate schools to participate during the preceding week. However, this will be solely at the convenience of each individual school – as a teacher, I understand the need for flexible dates.
Your school’s support for this worthy cause would not only be greatly appreciated, but will also benefit the lives of so many injured heroes.
For details and to register, visit the Heroes Day website.
CAPTION: Heroes Day 2011 is celebrated at Leesland Junior School in Gosport
• Danny Glavin is the founder of Heroes Day and a teacher at a primary school in Hampshire.
• For more primary education best practice and advisory articles from Headteacher Update, click here.