SHOEBOXES full of children’s toys were collected and shipped to poverty-stricken countries across the world thanks to the generosity of pupils.

Children at Buckingham College Preparatory School in Rayners Lane have been bringing in gifts to pack the boxes, in aid of Operation Christmas Child – the world’s largest children’s Christmas project, run by the Christian charity Samaritan’s Purse.

Each year two pupils from each year group are elected on to a school council, and it was that body’s decision to try and contribute to the worldwide project.

Having directed their classmates to bring in presents for the boxes, they helped to stack them out as they were collected and readied to be shipped off on Thursday last week.

Anette Gooder, a reception teacher who oversees the school council, said: “One of the things the school council has always been keen to do is more charitable work at the school.

“We got involved with Operation Christmas Child two years ago and it is a really humbling experience. For the children it really helps to develop empathy and makes them appreciate the difficulties that some children are going through.

“Lots of the boxes go to children who are hit with a horrible double whammy: they are in hospital over Christmas, in war-torn countries, and the children really value being able to do something for them.

“Although we adults oversaw the project, and checked the right things were going in the boxes, it was all their idea.

“They even held an assembly to tell all the pupils what can and can’t go in them. These aren’t teenagers, they’re between four and 11, so to see them take on such responsibility is fantastic. They’ve been incredible.”