By Mrs Johnson, Charities Co-ordinator

The second half of term is turning out to be another busy one for our charities and volunteering, and we are looking forward to working with our new Year 10 Charity Reps and Year 9 Humanitarian Leads who have taken up their posts in the last couple of weeks. Here’s what we’ve been up to so far.

Women’s Aid

Year 10 have been continuing to raise money for their chosen charity, Women’s Aid. They have been running cake sales every week this month with more to come! Thank you to those who have bought cakes this week. Last week the Year 10s ran a “Wear a Pink Hair Accessory” to school day in exchange for a donation to the charity. Also as part of their fundraising, Year 10s organised breaktime games and activities with the Junior School last week on the astro. Great fun was had by all with Junior School parents donating to the charity.

Finally, watch out for a Candy Cane delivery service in early December where students will be able to send a candy cane to another student together with a festive message!

Here’s why Women’s Aid is such an important charity to the students and why they chose them as their Year group charity:

Felicity C (Year 10 Charity Rep)

“Year 10 chose to support Women’s Aid as their charity for this half term, and everyone raised money and awareness about this charity.  Women’s Aid is a charity working to end domestic abuse against women and children. All of the charity reps agreed that this was an amazing charity, because of all of the important work that volunteers accomplish. Everyone agreed that it was a very crucial cause, and a very poignant cause in today’s society.”

Age UK and Care 4 Calais Collections

From today (22nd November) we will holding separate collections in the atrium for two local charities. 

For Age UK we are encouraging students to bring in canned items and small gifts, which will be put into hampers to be given to Age UK Ealing.

For Care 4 Calais (for refugees housed in the local area), donations of men’s joggers, hoodies and trainers, particularly smaller and medium sizes for new arrivals in the UK – most appreciated as the weather turns colder. 

All donations are gratefully received. Thank you! 

Harrow Club Match-Funded Campaign

The Harrow Club are an amazing charity who run six sites in West London, open until at least midnight, where they provide a range of sports, creative opportunities, advice and support for young people who are involved or at risk of involvement in gang related conflict.

The Harrow Club are seeking funds towards the ‘Another Way’ late night safe space project which helps tackle Youth Violence.

They would like to raise £100,000 in match-funded donations which would go towards:

• Improving community safety by increasing support and safe environments for young people at risk of harm
• Improving the mental wellbeing and physical health of young people living chaotic and harmful lifestyles
• Increasing the range of opportunities available to young people through focused mentoring, support and training

Donations will be open from 12 pm 30th November to 12 pm on December 7th.

We will also be selling NHEHS Christmas Cards with proceeds going to the Harrow Club.  Designed by some of our Year 7s, these will be available to buy on Parent Pay and at the Parents’ Guild Christmas Bazaar.

Tuesday 14th December will be our annual Christmas Jumper Day.  We’d love to see all students join in the festive fun for just a £1 donation which will also go to the Harrow Club.

Textbook Collection

Last week Books 4 Africa collected 21 boxes from us containing 20kg each of textbooks. 420kg in total!  The collection contained old textbooks no longer used by the students in the Junior and Senior school. Last term’s collection was delivered to a school in Nigeria. Hopefully we will not need to wait too long to find out where this current collection is sent!

Volunteering at St David’s Care Home, Ealing

As part of the Year 10 and 11 Enrichment Programme, some of our students have been volunteering at St David’s Care Home. Founded in 1918, St David’s Home for Disabled Ex-servicemen and women is a registered charity, providing care for the elderly and rehabilitation of the physically disabled.  Here is what Lauren C and Daria G have to say about their volunteering experience at St David’s Care Home so far:

“After studies have shown that singing can improve Alzheimer’s and the severity of its effect, we have chosen to go to local care homes on a weekly basis to sing to the residents. We have enjoyed the experience of supporting and singing with others, alongside sharing our interest in music. Not only is volunteering a brilliant way of offering help and supporting people and communities, but we would also recommend it as a great thing to do with friends, finding something you love to share with others.”

Staff Ramble for Shelter

Mrs Critcher is organising a 10k staff ramble in December to fundraise for Shelter as part of the charity’s fundraising week from 6-12th December. More information including how to sponsor our ramblers here.

The Ashiana  Network – Year 9 Charity

Following a very close vote, Year 9 have decided to support the Ashiana Network as their Year group charity next term. This charity has had over 20 years’ experience of providing refuge services for South Asian, Turkish and Iranian women. You can find more information here.

Thank you for your continued help and generosity!