Scottish Catholic Observer

Members of the P7 class raised an incredible four-figure sum for the Catholic international aid charity SCIAF over just five weeks by focusing on the three pillars of Lent.

A total of £6,382 was raised by the pupils through a range of activities including a crazy hair day and a SCIAF coffee morning as well as smaller events such as inviting people to guess the bear’s birthday, guess the sweets in the jar and guess the teacher’s baby pictures.

As well as their fundraising efforts, the pupils worked hard to raise awareness of SCIAF’s work, speaking to individual classes about their events and presenting a whole school assembly on the different SCIAF projects including those in Zambia, where the charity has been focusing its work during Lent this year.

St Francis Xavier’s has a tradition of raising money during Lent for SCIAF, and P7 teacher Roisin King said that as a Catholic school they tried to help the less fortunate.

“This year we discussed the importance of the three pillars of Lent: prayer, fasting and almsgiving,” she said.

“Through our SCIAF appeal we prayed for the people of Zambia as well as raising money. I am so proud of everything the P7s have achieved. They worked well as a year group to discuss and agree upon events and to organise these.

“They have developed many skills through the SCIAF campaign and should be very proud of themselves.

“It has been wonderful to see them grow in confidence over the short time and really step up to the mark. They are a real credit to the school and their families.”