Winter Wonderland Comes to Paddington Primary
Festive spirit filled the classrooms and corridors at Essendine Primary School this week, as 50 colleagues representing seven Grand Union BID members came together for the first of two multi-company volunteering events being hosted by us this Christmas.
Essendine Primary School has been a fantastic supporter of the BID - regularly welcoming volunteer teams to transform spaces around the school site, host assemblies, deliver workshops and listen to pupils read.
Like many schools in Westminster it faces significant challenges. Over half of pupils are in receipt of free school meals – an indicator of deprivation. There are 262 pupils on roll and capacity for just over 450. This has significant funding implications for the school, which has a huge Victorian building to maintain. There are a growing number of pupils with special educational needs to support. This celebratory event was a chance to say thank you for working with us so collaboratively.
Over the course of a morning and afternoon session, colleagues worked on five main activities.
Sharing wintery stories with pupils in Year 3 and 4
A wonderful opportunity for Key Stage 2 children to practise their reading and grow in confidence as they shared a book with a new adult. Many of the volunteers enjoyed reading to the children too – modelling fantastic expression and holding the children completely captivated by the winter-themed tales they enjoyed together. During the course of the morning, 12 volunteers listened to 57 children read one-to-one.
Creating props for the school’s production of A Christmas Carol
A team of incredibly talented colleagues created invited window displays and accompanying props, which will form the backdrop to this year’s winter production. This task is normally undertaken by the teachers. At such a busy time in the school term, staff were grateful to have this talented team take on the set design.
Hosted a winter craft workshop for pupils in Year 2
All year 2 pupils had the opportunity to create artwork that will be used in a stunning winter display to capture their topic learning for this term on cold environments. Supervised by volunteers; the children drew, stencilled, painted and decorated a snowy landscape filled with animal characters and a generous sprinkling of glitter to make the whole scene sparkle!
Transformed a classroom into a winter wonderland
A makeover took place in a special space called the Hub – a classroom used by children that attend breakfast club, a breakout space at lunchtime and after school club. For many of the pupils at Essendine, traditional grotto environments can be overwhelming. This culturally and sensory sensitive space, adorned with twinkloing lights, is the perfect calming winter wonderland for all to enjoy during the last few weeks of term.
Designed stunning wreaths to adorn each classroom door
Pupils in Key Stage 2 had lots of fun designing beautiful celebrations wreaths to hang on their classroom doors - a wonderful momento from such a magical day. The classroom buzzed with conversation as volunteers helped the children to create wreaths that celebrated the pupils' interests, cultures and favourite colours.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Grand Union Bid for the incredible support they provided to our school this winter. Their team of dedicated volunteers brought warmth, joy, and festive spirit to our pupils through a wonderful range of Christmas and winter activities.
From creative crafts and story reading sessions to helping decorate our school for the season, every activity was organised with care, enthusiasm, and a genuine passion for making a difference. The volunteers' kindness and energy created magical moments that our children will remember for a long time.
Thank you for bringing so much joy to our school and for the meaningful contribution you continue to make in our community. We look forward to working with you again in the future.
If reading this has left you wanting to help the Paddington community this Christmas, there's still time to support our gift drive, with donation points open across Paddington Basin until 10 December.
Of course volunteering isn't just for Christmas. If you'd like to get invovled in 2026, please don't hesitate to get in touch with the Community Team. We'd love to hear from you.