July 27, 2017
Kingaroy retailer Woolworths has brought back its popular “Earn & Learn” stickers for local schools.
For the next two months, shoppers can earn a sticker for every $10 spent in store, while stocks last.
The stickers can then be given to a participating school where they will be redeemed for school equipment.
The last time the program ran, 16,000 schools across Australia earned more than 450,000 items.
The most popular category redeemed was mathematics equipment, closely followed by arts and crafts and sporting equipment.
In conjunction with the campaign, Woolworths are also holding their inaugural “Inspiring Schools Awards”.
The company is encouraging South Burnett residents to nominate their local school or early learning centre for an award.
Schools that register for “Earn & Learn” can be nominated for the Inspiring Schools Awards.
Nominators simply describe what’s inspiring about their school for the chance for it to win 1000 extra Earn & Learn stickers, $10,000 towards creating an inspiring learning space for the students, and $2000 worth of Woolworths groceries.
A State winner will also receive $3000 to go towards resources for their school.
Editorial footnote: Yes, we know this is a big plug for Woolworths, and, no, they haven’t paid us. But we also know that many of our schools – particularly the smaller ones – will welcome any help that they can get!
My granddaughter goes to special education centre at the Kingaroy State School. I would like to see them get the extra Earn and Learn stickers and any other things they can as the staff and the school try very hard to help these children with special needs. It takes special people to help others and these teachers go above and beyond to do so, always trying to get better learning things and to teach the children more. My granddaughter loves going there. We drive about an hour to get there but it is worth it to see how much she loves it and learns. That is how kids that want to go to school learn more then kids that don’t.
I’m not usually a big fan of supermarket collection schemes, but I’ve seen how these promotions can make a difference, particularly for small schools. When my children attended a small school in Brisbane, we’d have people without kids who would kindly give us their stickers – sometimes chasing us out of the store to do so! Friends and family would collect for us too. The supermarket check-out operators used to give us extra stickers if others had not collected theirs, but apparently they are unable to do so now, and it can take a while to fill a sheet! On the day the school’s delivery arrived, there was a big cause for celebration, because our school really was able to buy a lot of gear, which was badly needed. You should have seen the kids’ (and teachers’) faces when all the new sporting gear was brought out! (Good marketing right there!). An apple company ran a similar promotion when we lived in NZ, which had the bonus of encouraging the kids to eat more fruit too. It may seem small, but no one has to spend more than they already do, and it does make a difference. If you don’t have kids attending school here, I ask that you consider giving your tickets to someone who does, or putting them in the boxes outside Woolies. I’m pretty sure all our schools here could do with a helping hand. Or a few extra stickers!