Over the last few weeks, Year 5 has been learning about the great English explorer, Sir Ranulph Fiennes as part of our Commando Joe’s Character curriculum. Throughout this unit of work, the children have taken part in a ‘trans-globe adventure’, completing several character building missions with their peers along the way. The final mission involved the children designing their own obstacle course and challenges to raise money for YoungMinds charity. The charity aims to ‘see a world where no young person feels alone with their mental health, and gets the mental health support they need, when they need it, no matter what.’

The children took home sponsorship forms, imploring friends and family alike, to provide a donation for this final mission. Using an assortment of objects including tyres, hurdles, hula hoops, bean bags, tennis rackets and benches, the children worked in groups to construct their own obstacle station. Each group demonstrated how their station worked, before moving around in a carousel to try out the different activities. Once every group had completed all activities, the stations were adapted to create one continuous (and muddy) obstacle course. 

With the help of Year 5 and the generous Rowner community, the children successfully raised £813 to support children’s mental health. This is an astounding achievement, one that brightened the days of everyone at Rowner, and is a true mark of the giving nature of the surrounding community. This money will now help to support those who need it most.