Students at Portfield School, run by charity Autism Wessex, have made blankets from recycled bags of crisps and sweet wrappers and donated them to a local homeless shelter.

Utilising the metalized silver lining from over 200 used food packets, the three boys in the Sandbanks class, aged 14, 15 and 16, gave four blankets to the BH1 Project run by the Salvation Army in Boscombe.

Jane Alton, Corps Officer at The Salvation Army in Boscombe, said: “We are delighted to have received these much-needed blankets from the students at Portfield School. It was a lovely gesture and we are sure they will benefit the homeless people we support, especially while the weather remains on the cold side. It is also a great example of local charities working together.”

The ‘Eco Hero’ project was part of an ongoing recycling scheme at the school, which has recently received Green Flag status. It helped students understand what’s involved in manufacturing products from start to finish and the importance of reusing and recycling.

Anita, Sandbanks Class Teacher, explained: “As the students in our class are predominantly non-verbal, we focus much of our learning around practical, hands-on activity. This project enabled the boys to visualise a complete production line by collecting empty food packets over a period of weeks, cleaning and flattening them, fusing them together to create a large sheet and finally, cutting the sheets to blanket size and attaching a string to make a thermal cape.

The whole time, they worked really well as a team and it provided us with a great opportunity to demonstrate a factory-like environment, which has been ideal as work-experience prospects have been restricted during the pandemic. The additional benefit was that we were able to support our local community.”

Founded in 1968, Autism Wessex is the regional charity providing specialist support to anyone affected by autism across Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Somerset.

For more information about Autism Wessex please visit www.autismwessex.org.uk or @autismwessex on Facebook and Twitter.