Saltoun Primary School pupils collecting items for Ukrainian refugees

Pupils at Saltoun Primary School in East Saltoun have organised two collections already, with plans to deliver even more for the incoming refugees.

The collection has been set up by the school’s P4-P7 composite class, liaising closely with charity Sunflower Scotland so that the children could collect the most essential goods.

Janey Nicol, teacher at Saltoun Primary School, helped set up the collections and was incredibly proud of the pupils’ efforts so far.

She said: “The children had been hearing things on the news and hearing people talk about it and they were just desperate to do something to help.

“It’s really important for the children to feel like they have some power that they can do something.

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“I think it helps them with the way they are feeling about what’s going on that they are practically doing something.

“We are in quite a rural setting, so there wasn’t a drop-off point, so we thought we had to become the drop-off point here; we don’t live in Musselburgh or Dalkeith, where everyone else is taking things.”

So far, most of the items collected have been from the children’s parents, but the pupils are now hoping to engage the wider community and step up their efforts even further.

#ThereWithUkraine

She said: “We are looking at moving it on a bit by putting some posters out around the community.

“We’d love to expand it out a bit.”

Mrs Nicol also praised the children’s attitude and determination to do the right thing and contribute to the relief effort.

She said: “The thing I’m really impressed with is that they are willing to do this as long as it takes, it’s not been ‘we’ll collect until Friday and then take it to a drop-off’.

“They just want to carry this on for however long it takes.”