PUPILS at Heddington School were dressed for their dream job on Thursday (Sept 18) as they received as visit from NSPCC mascot Buddy.

The visit was part of a new NSPCC campaign to highlight that when a child is free from abuse they are free to dream.

Teachers also got into the spirit dressing up as what they thought they would grow up, including as chefs, artists and head teacher Ashley Martin as a vet.

“I’m glad I was put off and became a teacher instead, I don’t think I could have handled it,” he joked.

“The pupils always love dressing up, they really enjoyed it and there was a huge buzz around who they wanted to be.

"Even though we are in a fortunate area here, it’s important children have an awareness of children being less fortunate or if things do go wrong they know there’s people to turn to.

“Buddy is the symbol of a friend you can talk to and confide in. We can offer a huge amount of that in schools but sometimes children feel they need more.”

The day raised awareness of the NSPCC and their services, including Childline, and the charity will be returning to the school during a parents evening later in the term.

Year six pupil Millie, who wants to be a journalist, said: “It was very interesting and gave us confidence that we have someone there we can always talk to if we are upset and sad.

“It also good to know we can talk to someone whenever we want to or need to its very reassuring.”

The dressing up day was inspired by a YouGov survey which showed that one in seven adults in the UK managed to achieve the job they dreamed about when they were children.

The survey found that the most popular childhood dream job, for one in ten adults in the UK, was to be a doctor or nurse, followed by footballer (9%), and teacher (7%)

NSPCC Chief Executive, Peter Wanless, said: “Every child is born with hopes for the future but if a child’s head is full of fear, anxiety or loneliness there’s no space for dreams.

“Childhood should be a time we're free to dream.”

 

The top ten childhood dream jobs were:

1. Doctor, nurse or other health professional (10%)
2. Footballer (9%)
3. Teacher (7%)
4. Writer/journalist (5%)
5. Police officer (4%)
6. Train driver (4%)
7. Actor (3%)
8. Zoo keeper (3%)
9. Pop star (3%)
10. Astronaut (2%)