Year 6 students in Rashford Class at St John’s C of E Primary school, Wellington, had a very surprising visit.

Over the last 5 weeks, every student in Year 6 has been helping to complete a huge cycling challenge in the classroom on an exercise bike. They are aiming to cycle 2225km! This is the distance which equates to: leaving our school in Wellington, Somerset and cycling (virtually, using an exercise bike) to London then Edinburgh, over to Belfast, down to Cardiff and then finally arriving back at school (hopefully in time for Christmas!). These capital cities link to our 4 school houses: St George, St Andrew, St Patrick and St David. This is proving to be an incredibly tough challenge, but the Year 6 children are going to attempt to complete it throughout November and December. Along the way, they have been discussing some Geography work, using maps and discussing landmarks; some Maths work, considering distances and our fundraising total; and some Computing work to organise our fundraising webpage understand QR codes and sharing our story online.

The charity they are raising awareness of and money for is 2wish; this charity gave huge support to Year 6 Class Teacher, Mr Foster, when his daughter, Olivia, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly, aged 15 months old in October 2023.

So far, the class have made it Wales, cycling approximately 1800km and have already raised £900 which has almost doubled their target of £500.

Today, their hard work has been filmed by BBC West, and children were interviewed while cycling and talked about how much they are enjoying the challenge, seeing the progress they are making and reading all the donation messages every morning.

When interviewed Harry Foster said:

“This is a charity very close to my heart. When Olivia died very suddenly and unexpectedly back in October 2023, aged 15 months, there wasn't any support available to my wife and I. In January 2024, 2Wish charity expanded into England; it was previously just a Welsh charity. At the time we felt as though we were stuck in a deep, dark well, with no support until they opened the lid and  let in some light.  They have provided us with the professional support and the kind and caring nurture we were so desperately searching for and as a result we aim to raise awareness and money for this incredible charity.

The school council decided that they wanted to make 2Wish their charity of the year and myself and Mr Priestley decided that we would set the children a physical challenge.

The pupils' effort and enthusiasm towards this challenge has been extremely heart-warming. They have all worked extremely hard, been 100% dedicated and their passion and kindness towards this challenge is infectious.

The school’s response to supporting the charity has been absolutely fantastic. It feels like a very supportive family rather than a working environment. This fundraising idea, and potentially more in the future, just goes to show how the school truly live by their ethos of sharing joy and hope in the community.”

Although the children and Mr Foster were aware that the charity work was going to be filmed today by news reporters, they were completely surprised when representatives from 2wish also arrived. Little did they know but school staff had arranged for Naomi and mascot Gorgeous George to visit Rashford class, as they wanted to thank the children in person for the effort they were making with sharing the charity and the fundraising. They presented the class with a framed certificate from Rhian, the Founder of 2wish, along with an individual certificate which will be presented to the children once the challenge has been completed.

The children were absolutely thrilled, as was Mr Foster, to see 2wish, and loved meeting Gorgeous George. Many had their photo with George and cannot wait to see the whole event shared on the news.

The children have worked so hard, and they definitely deserve to have their efforts shared far and wide. They really are a credit to the school, and fantastic ambassadors for sharing joy and hope in our community and even further. We really hope their efforts are shared, and possibly a few more donations made as they cycle the last 400km!

https://2wish.enthuse.com/pf/schoolcyclingchallenge