CHILDREN at Upton Heath Church of England Primary School have been spreading the message of hope, love and positivity across the local area after being invited to take part in the Postcards of Hope project, organised by Primary Care Cheshire.

The key workers' children, who have been attending the provision at Upton Heath Primary School since the pandemic closed schools to the majority of pupils in March, created postcards with positive messages like ‘be happy’ and ‘stay safe’, which were then sent by Primary Care Cheshire to local care homes.

Recipients of the first batch of Postcards of Hope were Hillcrest Care Home in Frodsham, with residents showing their delight at receiving the postcards.

Messages of thanks to the pupils of Upton Heath were posted on Facebook by Hillcrest Care Home’s activities manager Heather Wallace, who said: “The residents were very grateful for the postcards from the children of Upton Heath as it brightened their day. They enjoyed talking about them.”

The Postcards of Hope project is led by Kathy Dooley, wellbeing services manager for Primary Care Cheshire (West Cheshire GP Federation), a network of 30 independent GP practices covering over 250,000 patients.

The Wellbeing Service support patients who have a non-medical need through social prescribing, striving to support our local areas as part of the Integrated Care Partnership in Cheshire.

Kathy said: “The idea was borne out of my son’s and other family members’ experiences during the pandemic, and feeling the effects of lockdown.

"Speaking with other similar teams around the country, I was inspired to contact my son’s school, Upton Heath, initially but then also linked in with the local authority and public health team to promote Postcards of Hope across the local area.

“The project has been shared, and other local schools can join in if they wish.

"Once the postcards have been made by children at schools, we’re sending them to local care homes to spread the message of hope and positivity.

"My hope is that more schools are able to send in these wonderfully uplifting messages and pictures, and that we will be able to work with the local authority to send them out to those accessing food parcels, spreading the message of hope, love and positivity even wider.”

  • Schools wishing to take part in the project can send their Postcards of Hope to Primary Care Cheshire, C11 Stanlaw Abbey Business Centre, Dover Drive, CH65 9BF.