Schools and Young People
It’s so important to engage young people about homelessness and give them an understanding of how it happens and the complexity around solving it.
What we can offer you
We love coming to speak to schools, sharing our knowledge and experiences with the next generation, improve their understanding of homelessness as a societal issue and empowering them to be part of the solution.
We can offer citizenship lessons for high schools, assemblies for primary schools and join careers fairs to share information about working in homelessness, providing age appropriate information for all groups.
But not all our work is about education, it’s also important that it is fun, rewarding, open to all and making a real difference to the community that you live in.
How you can support us
Fundraising with your pupils can have an amazing impact for our charity! Whether it’s a non-uniform day, taking part in our World Homelessness Day fundraiser ‘Go Purple for Petrus,’ or something driven by your students, every donation supports us to change lives locally.
Falinge Park High School
Falinge Park High School are long term supporters of Petrus, with their teachers and students regularly finding ways to get involved. In 2024, we ran a mosaic making workshop for them, installing their artwork into our Show Garden at the RHS Tatton Park Flower Show, which we attend regularly to showcase the work of our community allotment. We’ve also joined their Citizenship lessons with people who have used our services to recover from homelessness sharing their stories with the pupils.
At Christmas time, they popped to our Hub with lots of beautiful Christmas hampers for us to give out to people we support, and lovely handmade Christmas cards with messages of hope and support.
“By working with Petrus, we can give our students an understanding of the challenges people in our wider community may be facing, and how these can be met with compassion and empathy. Petrus have created many wonderful opportunities for our students, including teaching them how to make mosaics which became an integral part of their feature garden at the RHS Tatton Park Flower Show! They are happy to support our curriculum wherever possible, supporting everything from Citizenship lessons to careers fairs. Our students are able to see the impact of their support and donations, giving them a real drive to support their community.”
Ms Tasker — Assistant Head Teacher, Falinge Park High School
Monksdown Primary School
Monksdown Primary school hosted a ‘Sleep out to help out,’ where their year 6 students did a sponsored sleep out in their school hall. They watched videos of people who had been supported by Petrus talking about their experiences and saw first-hand how people’s lives can be changed for the better. Then it was onto the fun bit, building cardboard shelters, dancing and decorating tote bags before watching a film in their sleeping bags.
“Our children had such a special night. They built dens, did craft activities, watched a film interwoven with testimony from people who had previously been homeless and experienced going outside in the dark to feel how cold it was.
It was a great way for them to understand some of the realities that homeless people face, while also raising money and awareness to help Petrus. The 'Sleep Out to Help Out' event will have a lasting impact on staff and children alike."
Jacquie Price - Headteacher Monksdown Primary School Liverpool
If you’d like to arrange a presentation to your pupils or would like support with fundraising please email us at petrus@petrus.org.uk and we’d be more than happy to help.