Pupils at an east Auckland school are receiving a valuable lesson about being kind to others without expecting anything in return.
Year five and six pupils at Elm Park School in Pakuranga have partnered with the Youth Project NZ to create ‘kindness’ notes which were placed into small, decorated glass jars for the staff at Ambridge Rose’s The Manor private hospital and rest home in Edgewater Drive.
On November 11, Ambridge Rose sales and marketing manager Angela Pullar visited the school with three of her colleagues to distribute dozens of donuts to the pupils and their teachers to thank them for their efforts and to return their kindness.
On hand also was Youth Project NZ’s Claire Edmondson, who says the organisation initially approached Elm Park School to ask if it wanted to join its ‘Kindness in the Community Activities’.
“They accepted and wanted the whole school to work with us,” she says.
“We worked with three different activities and this was one of them, the kindness jars.
“I came in and worked for two days with these students making kindness jars. They decorated the outside and put positivity messages inside them.
“There were some lovely, genuine messages there of positivity and kindness, which they then send off.
“I go around to carers in the community and Ambridge Rose is one of the recipients.”
Edmondson says the kindness jars are kept by the staff members who they were gifted to.
“On each jar is a note that says it’s been made by a student at Elm Park School and then filled with messages and that’s given to the staff members.”
Pullar says staff at The Manor who received the kindness jars were “overwhelmed”.
“They are so appreciative. It’s such a wonderful thing from the school to show kindness and we’re just giving it back with morning tea for them. It’s a lovely gift to receive.”
Pullar encouraged the pupils to show kindness toward people in their everyday lives and to greet their teachers when they see them throughout the school day.
“Show kindness. It brings you so much joy and it brings everyone joy.”
Elm Park School deputy principal Karen Allen says when working on the kindness jars the pupils were able to think about what sort of messages they wanted to impart.
“When I went in the students were working together and collaborating.
“It was a really good experience and knowing they were giving something and not getting anything was a really good thing.
“It’s the sort of thing that’s really incredibly worthwhile.”
