After a bumper year for our charities and volunteering last term when we raised over £9,000, we welcomed our new  Year 12 charity reps Sophie and Niamh at assembly last week. Sophie and Niamh shared the fantastic variety of charities and volunteering opportunities last term from our volunteers and also outlined what we have coming up in the next three months.

Sophie introduced herself by sharing her passion for charity initiatives and telling us about her volunteering at Oxfam in Ealing and helping at Age UK last term. She was delighted to become a charity rep as she wanted to “encourage everyone to take part in charity events, donate and volunteer as much as they can,” and is also hoping to take part in our volunteering sessions at the Harrow Club, with their sports clubs and helping children with their homework. Niamh was also excited to become a Year 12 rep and said of her new role, “I applied for the charity rep role because the wide range of charity events have always been a part of school that I’ve really liked and I enjoyed being the charity rep in year 10 as well.” She also volunteered at the British Heart Foundation charity in Hammersmith as well as helping the school getting involved in the RoK network which helped distribute our old textbooks to schools in the UK and Nigeria.

Our Year 10 reps then spoke about the volunteering enrichment activities from last term. A group of students helped out at the Honey and Grape Farm at Horsenden Hill, including Year 10 Nanthana who explained, “We carried out lots of different tasks such as pruning, moving the soil to the compost area, and removing any excess grass and plants from the fence to tidy it up. After each session, we saw our progression which was an amazing feeling as we saw our hard work through our gardening. We also learnt how to use certain tools and how they differ for different tasks. This was a great opportunity for us as we were able to go off timetable and help with the farm which is something that I personally would have not thought about doing. Therefore, this created an opportunity for me to work and learn at the farm. Overall, this was great fun and was very rewarding once you see the end result.”

Nanthana also shared details of the lovely Festive Fair for Ealing Mencap: “When creating the stalls, we thought about how we could make it engage, as well as following the theme of Christmas. We had multiple stalls, such as snowflake decorating, stencil painting and colouring. To top it off we sang some classic Christmas tunes. When all the Mencap customers came in, they were all excited which was great to see and they enjoyed  the different activities that was planned. Overall, it was a fun and engaging experience as we got to work alongside Ealing Mencap and get in the festive spirit.”

For her volunteering, Preet from Year 10 went over to Junior School to help out with reading in Year 4 which she loved. “I found that this experience was very enjoyable and enabled me to work with younger students and help them learn. What I found very interesting was that each week I would be doing something different that would help according to the lesson plan. Some weeks the students were set on a worksheet, and I would go around the classroom helping them out with spelling; other weeks I would help with the displays and class discussions. The children were really enthusiastic about having an older student help them with their work and each week, were very excited to see me. Overall, I found the volunteering a fun experience and would recommend this to all students.‘

Some volunteers also helped out at Pitshanger Park working alongside the Ealing Park Rangers. The group raked away cut grass and brambles as well as helping to use wood chips to cover the roots of young trees. They enjoyed the work as they were able to spend their afternoons in the fresh air in the park as well as getting the chance to learn more about the plants in the park. In addition to this, some of our students went to help out at the Children’s Book Project with organising and making boxes of books for the charity. Maia and Tara said, “It was really amazing to see the whole process and see how much we were helping people. It was genuinely a really fun and grounding experience.”

Year 11 and 13 students also took part in singing at our local care homes last term. The Year 10 and 11 choir alternated between singing at Chestnut Lodge and St David’s. The residents have really been enjoying their visits and have requested their favourite songs to be enjoyed on future visits. In December, Year 13s brought festive cheer to the customers at the Ealing Age UK Day Centre in Greenford. The customers enjoyed singing along and everyone felt that Christmas had certainly arrived after their visit.

Spring Term Charities Initiatives

We are looking forward to another busy term of charities and volunteering, with Year 9’s initiatives in the spotlight for the first half of term. Caitlin and Juliette from Year 9 explained how we will be fundraising for The Ashiana Network, the year group’s chosen charity. The charity has had over 20 years’ experience of providing refuge services for South Asian, Turkish and Iranian women. You can read more about their fantastic work here. First up is a staff ‘Masked Singer’ event followed by our version of Would I lie to You (January 25th). February will see a Bake Sale (1st) as well as a Wear Purple Day (4th), Mini Master Chef and Hall Fair with Bubble Tea in the final two weeks before half term.  

Having supported local refugees via Care 4 Calais last term with coat, bag, stationery and toy collections, we are now looking for donations of old devices (mobile phones, laptop and tablets) to support a young person who is a refugee in the Ealing area to help them as they start on their homework, particularly for GCSE and A levels. Please let Mrs Johnson know if you are able to help.

We will also be holding a new ‘sponsored sleepout event’ in March where students will be sponsored to experience half a night of outdoor living. The sleepout is going to be the whole night. Students will be encouraged to spend the night outdoors to hopefully gain a bit of an understanding of what it is like to be homeless in this country. They will be encouraged to build their own shelter out of cardboard boxes to keep themselves as warm as possible for the night. 

Ahead of World Water Day on March 23rd, we will also be running events and raising awareness for Water Aid, including a session reflecting on gratitude for water with our Humanitarian Reps.

Looking forward to another exciting term of charities and volunteering!