Share a Pencil Day FAQs

Yes. Hope has undergone a little face-lift and with that it’s been renamed, aside from that nothing has changed. VENT for Change reflects the passion we feel for supporting children’s education more forcefully. Everything else remains unchanged, our philosophy, our passion and our goals are just as before. 

IMPORTANT: VENT for Change is a sustainable stationery company, we are not teachers or education professionals, the resources put together for the day have been generated and collated by the team and other partners kind enough to offer resources. Forgive us if they are not perfect, if you find anything obvious we can improve on please let us know.

What ever suits your school best. One class, one year or a choice of classes and year groups can take part. Share a Pencil Day is an annual event so children not taking part this year could still learn all about global education as they rise through the school.

Once you have signed up we will send a link to a page filled with posters, Lesson plans and classroom notes that can all be downloaded. Sign up is absolutely free but it helps us to see how many schools and children we are reaching on the day. That’s why we keep the resources back until people have signed up. (Making them public would mean schools taking part we did not know about.)

In order to make absolutely clear that this is not a money making venture we do not offer any merchandise for sale. Pupils should take part using their own pencils, it’s just a bit of fun that helps children understand what learning is like when they don’t have access to all the materials we have access to here in the UK. Sharing each others pencils is a small price to pay

Some schools set aside a particular lesson slot, first of the day or last lesson before lunch etc during which period all classes will be learning about global education. Some are using the relevant subject lessons, Geography, PSHE, Citizenship or Language, to deliver the lessons then. It’s flexible and entirely the schools choice how and when the lesson takes place.

Not at all, we are making these available to make the day easy to access and plan. Share a Pencil Day is an awareness and education day first and foremost but how the issues of global education are delivered is entirely up to the schools. Some schools deliver a short assembly piece and ask children to share a pencil during one appropriate class. Others are taking part in the Design a Poster activity; “I love school because…” and using their own resources and lesson ideas to get the message across.

We would actively encourage this. Many schools use the day to further strengthen their links with projects they are already involved in. Some are using it as another chance to raise funds for existing programs and partnerships though that’s not the central purpose of the day. No child or parent should feel left out, nobody needs to bring any money or raise a penny to take part.

2017 was our first year and a huge success, in 2018 more than 80,000 children were signed up to participate. Since it’s launch more than 200,000 have been signed up by the schools and teachers to take part. Due to it’s enormous reach and on-going success we have every intention of running this event annually. In 2020 we ran the day as a virual event with children taking part at home where possible. The more children are exposed to these issues the better and learning can be spread across several years as the topics become relevant to their curriculum and abilities. The next Share a Pencil Day will take place on Wednesday 18th May 2022.