Red Box Project Launch at Matthew Moss High School

Matthew Moss High School (MMHS) have joined forces with The Red Box Project, Rochdale. The national project to eradicate period poverty for girls in high schools and primary schools, is run locally by an amazing volunteer co-ordinator, Anna Stokes.

Roy Down, a teaching assistant at MMHS, invited Anna to come into school to talk about the project and Anna immediately impressed everyone with her enthusiasm and commitment for the project. It was so easy for the school to become the latest recruit for the Rochdale branch of The Red Box Project.

Anna said: "I am really happy that Matthew Moss High School are now part of Red Box Project Rochdale helping to ensure that girls can stay in school throughout their periods and reach their potential.

“It was great for me to meet with some of their staff and students, who are all really caring, enthusiastic and supportive of the project. I am confident that they are going to promote this service well within their school and we are looking forward to hopefully partnering with them in the future to place Red Boxes into Matthew Moss's partner primary schools. 

“We are now supporting a total of eight schools in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale and have lots of local donation drop off points.

“We require donations of sanitary towels, tampons (light and medium), new knickers (age 8 - size 24), new black tights, we also need cash donations to help us to purchase items that are not donated."

Tracey Martin, who is the pupil premium mentor added: “With 47% of our learners eligible for Pupil Premium funding, the Red Box Project will provide a lifeline to some of our students.

“Research has shown that period poverty can have a real impact on the education of these learners, we think Red Box will go a long way to helping to eradicate this.’’

Rebekah Kirk who is the schools EAL co-ordinator said: ‘’Lots of our learners have English as an additional language, with a significant number of those learners having limited proficiency in English.

“That language barrier, along with cultural diversity, means that some of these learners may encounter more difficulty than others, when trying to access period products. We hope to break down the barrier of period poverty for our EAL learners, so that they do not miss a day of school.

“To promote accessibility and inclusion we have added some translated information onto our posters and called upon our multilingual school community to spread the word of this great project.”

Deborah Darnbrough, who is the Learning Mentor at school, said: “H2H are a group of Learners who volunteer their time to support other learners in school. They help with academic and emotional support.

“Some of them have also volunteered to be a Health Champion to support the School Health Practitioner.

“They support with information sharing i.e Smoking Cessation/Mental Health. They are eager to support the Red Box Project in Matthew Moss but also to support other ladies/young women in the fight against Period Poverty.”

Help end period poverty

To donate, visit:

• www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/redboxprojectrochdale

Alternatively, if you can help the Red Box Project Rochdale in any way, email Anna:

redboxprojectrochdale@gmail.com

www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/121880/red-box-project-aims-to-end-period-poverty