By Mrs Johnson, Charities Co-ordinator

Firstly, a huge thank you to all the students and their families and friends for such fantastic support and generosity this term for all our charities initiatives, ranging from the clothes, food and toys you have so kindly given to our collections and the amazing donations to all the Year group charities as well as our two local charities, The Log Cabin and The Harrow Club. We have now raised over £8,000 this term for the following 8 charities: The Log Cabin, The Harrow Club, Women’s Aid, Care 4 Calais, MacMillan, Anti Slavery International,  The Marine Conservation Society and The Felix Project.

Care 4 Calais

All the items of men’s clothing donated at the end of November were taken to Care 4 Calais who were thrilled to receive the items which were very much appreciated in this cold weather. We are hoping to help Care 4 Calais with more fundraising activities next term. Watch this space! 

Age UK Ealing

The many boxes and bags of food items we collected for Age UK Ealing were taken to the Greenford Community Centre and were packed into hampers for Age UK’s clients/customers by four of our Year 10 students and four of our Sixth Formers. The students also delivered some lovely handmade Christmas cards from our Year 7 and 8 forms. Age UK were delighted with the volume of items – thank you! Sixteen of our (double-vaxxed) Year 13s also went over to the Community Centre later in the week to sing carols to the clients/customers who enjoyed the music so much that they joined in too! 

Women’s Aid – Year 10’s Year Group Charity

Our Year 10s ran a number of bake sales that were highly appreciated by staff and students alike at breaktimes! They also ran a “Wear a Pink Hair Accessory” to school day in exchange for a donation to Women’s Aid, as well as a week of fun and games on the astro for the Junior School. Their final activity was organising a Candy Cane delivery service where students could send a candy cane to another student together with a festive message! The Year 10s have now raised over £500 for the charity.

Mencap Ealing Fair

Earlier this week our Year 10 students were delighted to welcome Ealing Mencap to NHEHS for a festive fair in our Recital Hall. With tables sparkling with fairy lights, the students ran a variety of fun activities for our guests including making tree decorations, festive bingo, crafting cards, singing & fun photo booth. A very enjoyable time was had by all, including some lovely spontaneous carol singing! Thank you to Ealing Mencap for coming! We hope to invite our guests from Mencap back to more events at school in the coming year.

The Harrow Club

We have been fundraising for The Harrow Club’s ‘Another Way’ late night safe space project which helps tackle Youth Violence, through donations and also the sale of the NHEHS Christmas Cards designed by some of our Year 7s. The lovely cards have been on sale at school and the Parents’ Guild Christmas Bazaar and are still available to buy on Parent Pay. Any money raised between November 30th and December 7th was matched (doubled). We wait to find out how much was raised! Our MFL Film Night showing the German language film ‘Ostwind’ raised £200 for The Harrow Club.  Finally, 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.

Staff Ramble for Shelter

Mrs Critcher is organising a 10k staff ramble this weekend 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. Fingers crossed for dry weather!

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. The Year 9s are already planning their fundraising activities for next term which kicks off with a staff ‘Masked Singer’ event!