PUPILS at a Primrose Hill primary decided to give rather than give up during Lent this year. As a result, visitors to St Paul s Church of England school will have to be careful where they step after pupils decided to draw a huge map of Afri

Ben McPartland

PUPILS at a Primrose Hill primary decided to give rather than give up during Lent this year.

As a result, visitors to St Paul's Church of England school will have to be careful where they step after pupils decided to draw a huge map of Africa in the entrance hall and cover it with coins.

The giant map at the Elsworthy Road school is just one of the ideas put forward by pupils themselves to raise funds to benefit children in Africa.

As well as the coin map, there will be a non uniform day and the school's orchestra will play music to accompany parents as they arrive at school.

Headteacher Simon Knowles said: "The kids here have some amazing ideas and we took on some of the more relevant ones.

"They had an idea of asking people for loose change so we thought, 'Let's create a coin map of Africa and do it in the entrance because it is prominent to the school'."

Each pupil has also drawn their own brick which will be sold off to their parents for a contribution.

The paper bricks were made to represent the real bricks of three new schools in Angola and Mozambique which will be built with the help of the money raised.

Thankfully for pupils at St Paul's, Mr Knowles said Lent was no longer a time to make them give up chocolate or sweets.

"Lent has changed a lot over the years," he said.

"People used to use it as a time for giving up but here we use it for reflection and to think about the things we do really well.

"We are always looking for ways to care about other people both in our school community and in the world as a whole."

ben.mcpartland@hamhigh.co.uk