An Even Better Arbourthorne- collaboration and volunteering to make lives better!

What Is An Even Better Arbourthorne?

An Even Better Arbourthorne (AEBA) is a school initiative developed in partnership with several organisations and funded by a community lottery grant which aims to develop long term opportunities to build a better future for our children, their families and the wider Arbourthorne Community.  We work together to find solutions to address poverty and create an even better life for people in the community. We develop the role of volunteers and have built on our strong culture of working in partnership with our families. Everyone uses a problem solving approach and collaborates to share skills and talents with each other.  

We explore interests and challenges that our community faces, agree priorities and then we work collaboratively to address these needs. For example, we have developed projects to support food growing and distribution from our polytunnel, help address some aspects of food poverty and play our part on helping to reduce food waste by establishing the Community Fridge (a place to donate and receive surplus food which is open to all), offering Family Feast (a fortnightly community meal cooked by volunteers using school kitchen facilities), Red Robin Fun and Food Club (a club where children and parents learn about gardening and cooking healthy food) and slow cooker courses using cookers loaned from our slow cooker library.

We are always looking for new people to get involved with AEBA, you could join one of our clubs, courses or volunteer with us for an hour or two. See Georgie, our volunteer co-ordiantor or Mandy, our safeguarding officer if you want to get involved. It is a great way to meet new people, socialise, learn new skills, share your own skills and strengths and give something back to your community. As a thank you, we also offer Time Builder rewards such as trips for volunteers and their family in exchange for time spent volunteering.