Gipping means giving at Howard Community Academy

It was smiles all round at Howard Community Academy in Bury St Edmunds this morning as some very special gifts arrived for the School’s Christmas Fair.

We recently completed and handed over the first and second of seven phases of works to the Primary School, part of Anglian Learning Trust with the third phase due for handover mid-January. All seven phases, once complete, will provide a much improved layout and circulation, refurbished classrooms, toilets, and a new library area.

We had responded to a shout out by Teaching Assistant, Rachael Harrington, for sponsorship or raffle prizes for a Christmas Fair the School was hoping to organise for the children – the first for many years.

This morning, our Site Manager, Chris Crabtree, presented two sets of Meccano for the raffle, to Head Teacher, Alison Weir, Rachael Harrington and members of the School Council.

Head Teacher, Alison Weir, said, ‘For the first time in years we are attempting to put on a Christmas fair at the school to enable the children to have a lovely Christmas experience before they break for the holidays. We are running with really limited resources and appealed to suppliers and companies we work with to ask if they would consider a donation to our raffle or a sponsorship of the event. We have been overwhelmed with everyone’s generosity which will enable this event to happen’.

Andy Laflin, Joint Managing Director of Gipping added, ‘We are so delighted to be supporting the Christmas Fair at Howard Community Academy where our site team have got to know the staff and children over recent months. We chose Meccano construction sets as our prizes as they help develop skills like logical thinking and problem-solving in young people – maybe inspiring them to choose a career in construction in the future!’

The icing on the (Christmas) Cake arrived in the form of a beautiful pre-lit, pre-decorated Christmas tree, donated by EPPH, the sub-contractors providing the installation of plumbing, heating and air conditioning at Howard Community Academy for Gipping Construction. EPPH had a number of trees to donate to worthy causes, so were delighted to join forces with Gipping to support the children’s Christmas Fair.