The ‘Grandparents-Go-Back to School’ program started last year to bring community and school together, said principal Gaylene Sabine. A nursing student started the project after seeking grandparents through an advertisement. Grandparents can volunteer to do a range of activities with students, including reading or crafts such as knitting, card making and more.
Lorraine Lovett was one of the first to volunteer last year and has since gotten friends from a craft group to volunteer as well.
“I’ve always wanted to work with children,” said Lovett. “The children have taken to it and are pretty proud of what they do.”
The craft group, which formed a few years ago, also knits and makes crafts for the Gilbert’s Cove lighthouse as well, she said. The group also makes ‘Izzy’ dolls to send to children in Africa, and students are being encouraged to make the dolls as well.
The children have taken to it and are pretty proud of what they do. - Lorraine Lovett
The program ran from November to May last year and this year started after Christmas and will run to the end of the year. There are 10 regular volunteers who come by on Thursdays from 1 to 2 p.m.
“What they’ve been doing with the students is phenomenal,” said principal Sabine. “All of our students from grades 2 to six 6 been involved at some point.”
ldelong@digbycourier.ca
