This week we were honoured to visit Tunstall Church of England Primary School in Sittingbourne, one of the winners of our Name Your Local Air Ambulance school’s competition, part of our highly successful Buy it for Life campaign last year.
We invited schools and youth groups across Kent, Surrey and Sussex to take part and were overwhelmed by more than 160 entries, full of creativity, passion and care. The name suggested by the pupils at Tunstall School – Hope – couldn’t be more fitting.
During the pandemic, Tunstall adopted the phrase ‘anchored in hope’. That message became even more powerful after a tragic accident involving two children from the school, which we attended. The name ‘Hope’ now honours the courage and optimism shown by the school and its community.
On 15 September over 400 pupils gathered to see one of our helicopters land at the school, meet some of our lifesaving crew, and hear about the work we do. The energy and excitement was unforgettable.
Our Head of Public Fundraising Helene Poursain said: “It was a pleasure to visit Tunstall School and let the children see one of our helicopters close up and talk to them about our work. Their enthusiasm was fantastic and we had lots of really interesting questions during our visit. Their suggestion of the name ‘Hope’ for one of our aircraft was perfect.”
The visit follows a similar one in June to Monkton School, Ramsgate where pupils had a visit from KSSC, now known as `Spirit’, the name they suggested.
Year 3 pupils at Monkton chose the name ‘Spirit’ after learning about KSS in their Spirituality lessons when they learned about our lifesaving work in their communities and were asked how it makes them feel.
They decided on the name ‘Spirit’ as they felt it would remind them to always have courage and help others. Some children felt that ‘Spirit’ sounds floaty and powerful too, “just like a helicopter!”.
