Woodford Church of England Primary School opens its new 'Sharing Shed'

A school is hoping a new ‘Sharing Shed’ will help families as the cost of living crisis continues.

Rising prices and the cost of living crisis have been making life difficult for many, with some families finding it harder to make wages stretch.

Schools are noticing the impact that this is having on some families with children tired, hungry and not always in suitable clothing for school.

Staff say it not only has a huge effect on the parent’s well-being, but the child’s well-being and their self-esteem as well.

In light of this, Woodford Church of England Primary School has a new ‘Sharing Shed’ to provide help when families need it.

Sarah Faulkner, Woodford's family support worker and safeguarding lead, said: "At Woodford we wanted to to try and take the strain off families a little and give something back to the community.

"We have been collecting used uniform, coats, shoes, Christmas jumpers and other items of clothing at school for a while now, but we were finding that families were not making use of the facility and knew we needed to find a way to make it more accessible without families having to come and ask school staff first.

"I saw a project another school in the area had worked on, and wanted to implement this at Woodford, so set about contacting local companies for donations and was amazed at the generosity and support.

"We were able to tidy up the front of school with huge thanks to John Clark from JW Clark, Nigel from NR Groundworks and Rob and Lee from the Nene Education Trust who provided a digger, gravel and man power.

"AJ Sectional Buildings very kindly provided the 'Sharing Shed', Wychwood Cabinet Makers fitted the shed out with bespoke shelving and Ady Pendred Signwriters are in the process of making a 'Woodford Sharing Shed' sign - this has enabled us to display all the clothing that we have and make it easy for families to help themselves anonymously.

"We hope that this will help to take the strain off a little, and also in those moments of emergency, when you can't find a jumper or the sock monster has eaten every pair of matching socks, hopefully there will be spares in the shed.”