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notre dame primary school raises £9k for beatson cancer charity notre dame primary school raises £9k for beatson cancer charity

Staff and pupils at Notre Dame Primary School in the West End of Glasgow have helped to raise over £9,000 for Beatson Cancer Charity.

Head teacher Tina MacDonald sparked the idea after deciding to shave her head for the charity and asked pupils to come up with their own fundraising challenges.

Tina said: “My mum passed away from cancer in June 2019

and previous to that I’d always done charity work. My dad had dementia, so I’d skydived and abseiled and things like that to raise money for other charities. I was trying to think of what would make the most money and I said to my husband ‘I think I’ll shave my head’ and he was like ‘aye right – very good!!’.”

Tina explained that many pupils and staff had a strong connection with the charity, which made it even more appropriate.

Tina said: “We had lost a parent the year before who was

only 39 years old, and her last few days were in The Beatson. We also had a member of staff whose husband was getting treatment in The Beatson. Raising money for Beatson Cancer Charity all just tied together.”

Each class got involved in their own sponsored activities including ‘Soak the Teacher’ events, bake sales, runs and games. Tina’s head shave took place in September last year in the playground, surrounded by pupils and staff. Tina said: “Because of Covid, the whole school hadn’t

been together like that for ages so seeing your whole school in front of you was quite emotional.

“I remember in the morning getting a call from one of the newspapers and only then did it kind of hit me. I was totally fine the whole time leading up to it.

“When I sat in that chair my legs were shaking. But it was seeing the kids, teachers and support staff in the background. All the kids wore yellow and it was just amazing.”

The school raised a fantastic total of £9,053.80 - thank you so much to Notre Dame Primary School for their fantastic fundraising efforts and to Tina MacDonald for her incredible challenge!