A Dorchester school is to make a splash in Parliament through its fundraising for lifesaving loos overseas.
Staff and students at St Osmund’s CE Middle School have just completed a challenge to ‘twin’ all 49 toilets in the school through the charity Toilet Twinning which helps provide safe toilets overseas.
Now they have reached their fundraising goal, they are hoping West Dorset MP Chris Loder will honour his pledge to twin a toilet in the Palace of Westminster.
Toilet Twinning helps provide safe toilets, clean water and hygiene training for some of the poorest communities in the world. It invites people in the UK to donate £60 to ‘twin’ their toilet at home and help provide a family latrine overseas. In return they receive a certificate showing their ‘toilet twin’ abroad.
Mr Loder will be attending a special celebratory event at the school on Friday 12 May when students will present him with a Toilet Twinning certificate to display in a Westminster loo. The event will include a special presentation to The Mayor of Dorchester with some exciting news we will share at the event.
St Osmund’s students have come up with many creative ideas for fundraising – from ‘Blue for the Loo’ non-uniform days to a ‘Love your loo’ Valentine’s Day raffle to which local businesses donated prizes. Students have also held a number of bake sales at school: one pupil went on to hold a bake sale in her village too. Also at Christmas pupils in their classes organised reverse “spend a penny” advent calendars.
School Chaplain Lydia Topp, who introduced the school to Toilet Twinning, said: “In February 2022 when our Headteacher Saira Sawtell came to me with the idea of toilet twinning. I could never have imagined the journey we would go on. We have 49 toilets in school and trying raise just under £3000 was challenge, we were mindful of the current cost of living situation and Ukraine appeal over the last year. So, we have had to be creative! At the heart of all the fun was an important message for our pupils. As a church school our values are Hope, Community, Respect and Love. This project helped our pupils understand to respect the things we may take for granted and bring hope to communities that don’t have the same opportunities they have.”
The next step in the school’s Toilet Twinning campaign is to try to persuade other local organisations and groups to twin toilets – in a bid to make Dorchester a Toilet Twinned Town.
Toilet Twinning CEO Lorraine Kingsley said: “St Osmund’s have shown incredible generosity and we’re humbled by the students’ determination to provide life-changing toilets in communities overseas that don’t have them.
“It’s shocking to think that some 1.7 billion people worldwide still don’t have a safe, clean toilet but, thanks to St Osmund’s efforts, yet more families will have the means to keep healthy and ward off disease. For that, we’re truly grateful.”
