AS part of celebrating Valentine’s Day, students of St Ives School, Haslemere, shared the love by donating their toys and books to children who are less fortunate.

The donations by pupils were made to the Toy Project, a London-based charity that recycles new and used toys and gives them to those who really need them.

The gifts from St Ives will be sent to children in one of eight schools the charity works with in Grenada.

The project, which was was founded in 2013 to provide children’s organisations with toys that are collected by schools, corporate companies and individuals, has gone from strength to strength and had to move to larger premises to keep up with donations.

Its ethos is to encourage the goodwill and involvement of the wider community and to educate children in the importance of recycling and giving.

Year 1 teacher Lily Jackson is a big fan of the Toy Project and decided Valentine’s Day was the perfect time to teach pupils that love can be shown in many different ways.

On February 14, pupils went to school laden with gifts and also wrote letters and drew pictures to accompany their donations to show the children in Grenada they have friends in the UK.

Miss Jackson said: “I am delighted children across the whole school have thrown themselves into this idea with huge gusto and generosity. You can never be too young to learn to help others, especially those who are less fortunate than you.”

Headteacher Kay Goldsworthy said: “Kindness and thinking about others form an integral part of our ethos at St Ives, so I am delighted the children have donated to the Toy Project.

“We plan to make this an annual event.”