PFG sponsored The Grange Festival and the World Wildlife Fund to help children express their hopes and vision for a sustainable future. 

As part of the project, children from Byron Primary in Kent, a school we’ve supported for around five years, attended climate change workshops to create a song and video called The Ocean Republic, which focuses on how we can save our oceans.

The project has been such a success, the videos are is being shown, COP26 and the project has been featured on BBC News South.

The Ocean Republic - Byron Primary School | Learning@TheGrange X WWF - Future Visions from The Grange Festival on Vimeo.

Lewis Davison, Byron Primary Teacher, said, “This has been one of the most enjoyable projects I have been a part of. The children were so invested in this project that they really wanted to give it their all and show the passion that had been ignited in them. I genuinely believe the children came away with more of an understanding of our world, particularly our oceans than they ever had before.”

What else have we done towards Climate Change? 

PFG has committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2040 and we’re putting in processes to help us do this. Most recently, our offices became ISO 14001 Certified thanks to the environmental management system we have in place.

We have also become a signatory of the UN Global Compact Network UK, which supports members to turn global momentum on sustainability into practical local action.

You can read more about these goals and our commitment to them here.

Richard Lock, Music Leader at Byron Primary, said, “This project was an amazing opportunity for the children to be part of – and we are very grateful that Provident were able to make that happen for our children through their funding of the festival. As a musician and music lead, what I particularly enjoyed about the project was the ownership the children had over the song they composed.”

Several other Hampshire-based schools also took part in the Learning@TheGrangeFestival and their videos were launched at a special event in September. You can watch those here and you can view the footage about the project by the BBC below. 

Learning@TheGrange x WWF | BBC South Today - 29 October 2021 from The Grange Festival on Vimeo.

 

How we've supported Byron Primary 

Over the last five years, PFG has supported Byron Primary school with a variety of initiatives, including:

  • Reciprocal reading training for teachers (2018 – 2019) – a bespoke programme created for PFG that helps teachers improve their quality of teaching, ultimately allowing students to progress quicker.

  • Outward Bound residential breaks, which help young people to develop essential skills such as self-confidence, resilience, and determination to succeed.

  • Funding a practitioner from our charity partner School-Home Support to work with children who may have personal struggles.

  • Book donations to help improve the literacy of young people, some of whom may not have previously even owned a book.

  • Colleagues have donated Christmas gifts, which might be the only gift these children receive. Watch out for details about this year’s Christmas Gift Appeal coming soon.

  • We funded a new kitchen in 2019, which is used by the local community as well as the school.

  • We worked with one of our suppliers to donate three iPad charging trolleys to store and charge the school’s iPads.