Rotakids is a fun and exciting way for children to get involved with voluntary community activities, while having a great time in the process.

RotaKids clubs are based in primary schools, (Key Stage 2) and with the help and support from teaching staff and the local Rotary club, children can gain valuable experience in helping others and learning interesting new things. It also brings an exciting and practical approach to supporting the citizen element of the curriculum.

In keeping with the Rotary motto ‘Service Above Self’, children taking part in RotaKids projects and events enjoy a boost in their confidence and self-esteem and develop an understanding of how their actions can positively impact on others.

Aquabox is a charity which provides safe drinking water, through the use of filtration units, and humanitarian aid to crisis zones around the world. Originally established in 1992 by the Wirksworth Rotary Club, it is a registered charity which is managed and run by the Aquabox Trustees.

During the school year 2022/2023 we started our AquaBox project. Since then we have regularly been going into schools to demonstrate this inexpensive but efficient piece of equipment. The children are filled with awe and wonder at seeing dirty, undrinkable water being changed, in an instant, into clean and safe drinking water.
Schools have used this to highlight the necessity of water in order for all living things to survive. Some schools have arranged fundraising activities to send a donation to AquaBox whilst others have used it to enhance their scientific knowledge.
We are now encouraging the children themselves to demonstrate and talk about AquaBox at a school assembly. This is proving very popular. The children receive a RotaKids badge in acknowledgement of their participation.

In the Summer of 2021, Retford Rotary Club
funded the ‘Grow to Give’ project’.
Bags of compost with re-cycled flowerpots (donated by Club members) and packets of
marigold seeds were given to all the RotaKids schools’.

The idea was that the RotaKids could cheer someone up by giving someone in their ’Covid bubble’, a plant, grown and nurtured by themselves and all within the constraints of social distancing and other Covid restrictions.

Happiness, mental well being and caring for the environment, as well as each other, all came together in this project.

During the Spring and Summer terms of 2021 we introduced schools to the website -
kidsagainstplastic.co.uk.

This website is run by two inspiring teenagers who aim to help young people learn about environmental issues such as plastic pollution and the Climate Crisis. As a consequence some of the RotaKids have signed up to be one of their Plastic Clever School, while others have organised litter picks within their local community.

We also set the local Rotakids Schools’ a
challenge. We asked them to consider the impact of litter on the planet and suggested that they publicise this through posters, presentations in school assemblies, litter picks etc.

The Rotary Club’s Environmental committee were our judges and awarded prizes to some of the most effective entries. It was a difficult choice; there were many different messages, all of which contributed to the consensus that litter has a detrimental effect on all of the living world. The winning posters were displayed at Bassetlaw Museum and Retford Library.

In October 2019, The Rotary Club of Retford presented a stunning retrospective exhibition of work by South African artist Peter Quinton Honey in aid of the Club's Bread Fund charity in South Africa. His commitment to helping children wherever he was made this exhibition helping children in the land of his birth especially appropriate.

We asked our three RotaKids schools then, Carr Hill, Orchard and Ranskill to create African Masks to accompany Peter’s artwork. The exhibition was held over three weeks and each participating school had their masks displayed for one week.

Masks were offered for sale as part of the fundraising project. Each school decided how they wished to manage the creation of their masks. Masks were therefore made at home, as part of an art lesson and during an after school club.

The exhibition coincided with the October half term holiday, which meant that many of the children could see their work displayed in a real gallery. There was a large footfall of visitors to Thoresby Courtyard during the time of the exhibition.

Over £3,500 was raised to support the charity, set up by the Rotary Club of Retford over 20 years ago to support children and their schools in the KwaZulu Natal region of South Africa.