Primary School pupils turn to art to promote importance of blood donations

 Blood bags created by the children at Saxton Church of England Primary School to be showcased at York Hospital
 
The children at Saxton Church of England Primary School used their crafting creativity to design and produce a range of fabric ‘blood bags’ in an effort to promote the importance of donating blood. 
 
The Blood Bag Project was started by an artist called Leigh Browser, whose young niece suffers from a rare blood condition that requires regular blood transfusions.
 
The children were inspired to take part in the initiative after reading about the project, and after learning about the circulatory system and the importance of red and white blood cells, platelets and plasma in the blood in science.
 
During their lessons they also discovered research that showed that the NHS needs between 5,000 and 7,000 blood donations every single day to meet demand, but that only 4% of the adult population in the UK has given blood, either due to time, fear, or heath reasons.
 
Parents, carers and volunteers from across the local community were invited to spend an afternoon helping the school’s Yr. 5 and 6 pupils to create the artwork, using various materials including felts, silk, ribbons and bright woollen pompoms.
 
Throughout the project the children also developed their design technology skills, creating fabric templates, before stitching on buttons and beads.
 
The blood bags have now been sent to The Windmill Health Centre in Seacroft where they will be on display before being sent to York Hospital over the Easter holidays.


Commenting on the project Rick Weights, Executive Headteacher at Saxton Church of England Primary School, said: “The children put their all into designing and creating the blood bags, and we are absolutely delighted with the outcome.


“This wasn't just designed as an unusual school project, but as a unique way of encouraging members of our local community to donate blood. It’s a really worthwhile cause, and a great way of engaging the pupils in a very important topic.


“We had a wonderful afternoon, and were very grateful to all of the parents, carers and volunteers who came into the school to help us with our crafting efforts.”