Poverty tackled by new school project

An Even Better Arbourthorne is a new project supported by the Centre for Innovative Voluntary Action, based at the school and coordinated by Growtheatre CIC.

Rachel Newman, of Growtheatre, said: 'The aim of our project is to address the root causes of poverty by bringing new ideas and solutions into the community and providing an enabling environment where initiatives can be developed, supported and taken forward by the school, by parents, by the children and by the local community.'

She added: 'Such initiatives will seek to: Build a more resilient local economy in Arbourthorne and provide many more opportunities for everybody for employment and engagement; Encourage volunteering and sharing; Increase the disposable incomes of local people; Promote the health and wellbeing of local people; Build social capital within the community and Enhance the optimism that local people feel towards their own futures and the future of Arbourthorne.

'We have created a partnership between Arbourthorne Community Primary School, the University of Sheffield's University Urban Institute, Centre for Innovation in Voluntary Action and Growtheatre.  Our work will try to demonstrate that there are practical and effective ways of addressing the causes of poverty and providing solutions, and that a primary school can become a central point for community betterment, not just for its children and parents but for the whole community.

Executive head teacher, Vanessa Langley, urged more caring and said: 'We are always keen to find ways of making the lives of our community even better and this collaboration is designed to improve well-being, sharing and caring and the values that are so important to Arbourthorne Community Primary School.'