Head teacher at Dean Park Primary School, Balerno
Rehana Shanks is the head teacher at Dean Park Primary School in Balerno, Scotland. She is currently behind a highly active campaign on neighbourly.com raising funds for the school to have a brand new 2G pitch which can be used by the school and community alike.
I feel a duty of responsibility to those children to make sure they get the best facilities they possibly can because they give so much back to us.
It's obvious that Balerno is rife with community spirit, and Rehana herself is very passionate about giving the children at the school the best of the best. It's very important to her that they have fair access to sports in their local area, to improve health and well-being as well as its social benefits too.
The current state of the pitch is out of date with many children having to travel out of the village to play sports, relying on adults for the time and finances to do so. Having their own pitch will give the children a sense of independence which is important.
Quite often we take for granted children and their optimism and their hope. I think if we give them what they deserve they'd be hugely grateful.
She likes to get the children involved with the fundraising itself, feeling it's important they have their say and important in making them feel valued. She has already done a fantastic job of raising money for the pitch which needs 75k in total.
Balerno is a pretty magical place where community still exists. It has a very can do attitude. People here get behind projects because they want to help.
Rehana and Balerno are the perfect example of 'being neighbourly' and we hope their community spirit will inspire others, she's certainly inspired us!
- Sophie