SCHOOLS HELP BUILD SUPPORT FOR ST BASILS AND CADBURY HOMELESSNESS PROJECT

Cadbury has teamed up with local charity St Basils to launch the Schools Sculpture Challenge, encouraging West Midlands pupils to get their creative juices flowing whilst addressing environmental and social issues.

As part of the project, schools from across the region are being invited to design a sculpture and build it using disused cardboard; promoting the importance of recycling and addressing the issue of homelessness.

Between now and 28 May, schools can submit their entries to St Basils, who are hosting a live public vote on http://www.stbasils.org.uk/  The general public have until 1 October 2010 to vote for their favourite, and the winning school will be treated to an exclusive Cadbury World visit.

Steve Rainbow Schools Sculpture Challenge organiser from St Basils said:

“The Schools Sculpture Challenge is such an important project to us as it helps us to not only engage with local schools but also to raise awareness of the work we do. We created the project to offer students a fun and exciting way of learning about these issues and we’re delighted to see an increase in schools taking part year on year. Having Cadbury on board for the third year running is also fantastic, as their support helps us to prevent youth homelessness directly in Birmingham and Worcestershire and to share best practice across the rest of the UK.”

Cheryl Phillips, Community Affairs Manager for Cadbury UK said:

“Cadbury has always been involved in the communities in which we operate, and one of our key themes is employability. We are heavily involved in BiTC’s Business Action on Homelessness programme, supporting homeless people achieve sustainable employment. Last year alone, Cadbury World employed four people from the scheme following initial two-week placements.

“The St Basils Schools Sculpture is a great way of promoting these important social issues to pupils across the West Midlands; issues that they can help to combat in years to come. We’re really happy to be supporting it and look forward to seeing the creative submissions from different schools.”

Submissions for the Schools Sculpture Challenge can be found online at http://www.stbasils.org.uk/  Voting is now open and will close on 1 October; the winning entry will be announced on 4 October 2010.