Before half term, our Charities & Volunteering Reps led an assembly as they looked back over the past year of NHEHS initiatives, the wider charitable world and also new opportunities for helping other people in our  own local community this term.

Whole school events have raised over £8,000 – these included the first ever swimathon, a Mencap student-led dance class, glow disco, just dance battle, Easter egg hunt, Easter egg collection, teacher rap battle, teacher quiz, a capella show and charity fashion show.

In addition, every Friday each form holds a charity event for their chosen charity, starting with Year 11 and Year 7 at the end of the spring term. These events raised £3,600 last year with forms encouraged to be as creative as possible!

NHEHS has worked with a number of local organisations over the past year, including Drayton Green Primary School on their reading project. Samar, Year 13 (or should that be ‘Miss Samar?’) shared her experiences:

“Hello everyone, I’m Samar.  I also respond to the name ‘Miss’ since that would be my name for an hour whilst I was helping at Drayton Green Primary School. 

My job at the school was to sit with a group of five seven year olds for 20 minutes, reading with them and asking them questions. It was really cool, I learnt all about pipes, mummies and Spotty the dog. Sometimes, I’d only have one active member, with the rest planning their escape routes. And at other times, I’d have five realistic theories proving that the Earth is a triangle based on their ability to use rulers. Obviously it was so complicated even I couldn’t understand, but these kids are brainy.

Moving on, I spent some time in the classroom teaching Maths because I enjoy secretly showing the kids shortcuts to solve problems. But also because I would give them points and tips to help move them up their chart.  Towards the end of my last few sessions at the school, I realised they had a foreign student who couldn’t understand anything in English. Much to her luck, I was able to teach her how to count llamas and measure their tails using my fluency in Persian. These kids are awesome. And I’m not just saying that to entice you, but they are genuine bundles of energy popping like popcorn around you.

If you want to have a chance to help these children feel special, then I suggest joining and spend some of your time at Drayton Green Primary.”

Year 13’s Amrita also shared how she had enjoyed volunteering locally last year with Age UK:

“Last year I volunteered at Age UK for about 8 months.

Through this experience I was able to develop and learn a lot of new skills. My shift started at 12.20 on a Monday, which was their lunchtime, so I helped serve and then clean up. After lunch, we would usually do an activity – most of the time it was bird bingo and I could never pronounce the names of the birds, so I was always corrected. But occasionally when it was close to an event such as Valentine’s Day or St. George’s Day, we would do a craft activity. This was important, especially with the elderly, because rooms that are decorated make them feel more comfortable.

Overall the experience was very rewarding, and I would recommend it for anyone wanting to step out of their comfort zone and try something new.”

Following a busy September and October with our Staff-Parent team running the Ealing Half Marathon for The Log Cabin, Harvest Festival collections for Ealing Foodbank and weekly form charity events,  we have several exciting charity events lined up for the second half of term.

First up was a charity clothes swap on Wednesday 6th November for Years 11, 12 and 13, to raise money for Cancer Research. The students received a ticket in return for an item of clothing donated, and were able to use the ticket to “purchase” an item of clothing from the collection. All left over clothes will be donated to Traid, the textile re-use company which donates all profits to charities around the world.

We are also planning a Christmas Jumper Day for Save the Children, charity carol singing, a book appeal for the London Children’s Book Project (for children up to the age of 11) and a Christmas card competition and sale for Crisis at Christmas, with a design theme of food waste (for Years 7-9 in their art lessons).

So there are plenty of opportunities to get involved in charity or volunteering work – whether it be during form time charity weekly events – creating a fun and innovative fundraising event to fundraise for a local charity, or creating an idea for a whole school charity event or it could be getting involved in our volunteer projects – so we can use our opportunities to help others, through gifts, financial support or our time.

If you have a great idea or would like to help, please speak to Ms Motyer or Mrs Johnson or our Charity Reps Maia, Vanessa, Emily and Ellie. Thank you!