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Charitable Giving
Charitable Giving in the Pandemic
Despite the challenges of lockdowns and Covid-secure measures, the school still managed to help the local community throughout the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years through volunteering, community action and fundraising. In September of 2019, the Bolton School Foundation joined the ‘World’s Biggest Coffee Morning’ to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support: Sixth Form Girls ran a hugely popular cake and sweet sale during break and lunchtime. Also in the Autumn Term of 2019, the whole of Year 7 raised £4,448 through a 24-hour sponsored silence. Charity representatives from each form then used the money for an exciting lunchtime ‘trolley dash’ around Smyths Toy Store at Middlebrook! The huge haul of gifts were donated to Hits Radio and Cash for Kids’ Mission Christmas Appeal, which hands out Christmas presents to less fortunate children across the North-West. Christmas saw girls rising to the Urban Outreach Hamper Challenge, which in 2019 saw the school help to fill the charity’s 1,300 charity hampers. These are distributed to those in need over the festive period and contain everything needed for a Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. The school’s target was exceeded with 2,747 selection boxes and an additional 724 boxes of mints donated! Other Christmas traditions also helped charitable causes: the Prefects’ Panto raised money for Women’s Aid, the Christmas Post aided local charity Wipe Your Tears, and Christmas Jumper Day supported Parents for Future UK. In 2020, as the world went into lockdown and remote learning became the norm, the school found ways to help in the fight against Covid-19. The Senior Girls’ School produced visors for local hospitals, GPs and care homes using the school’s laser cutter, which were assembled and distributed by pupils and members of staff. Poppy-Grace Stebbings in Year 8 gave hope and inspiration to people around the world through a poem written for her grandparents: her work was printed in The Bolton News and went viral online, and was also spread across the NHS by her parents, who are both front line workers. Pupils across the school produced thank you messages for the NHS, engaged in individual acts of kindness, helped elderly neighbours, and many took part in the ‘Run for Heroes’ challenge to raise £5 for the NHS by running 5km. With the start of the 2020-21 school in year, the school continued to support Urban Outreach. The Girls’ Division’s Harvest collection was held outside on the netball courts to remain safe under Covid regulations. Girls dropped off their tinned and sealed donations into crates outdoors on their way into school ahead of a virtual Harvest assembly. Around the same time, 140 cones of chocolates, originally intended for the School’s fundraising Summer Ball, which was sadly cancelled, were also donated to the charity by the Parents’ Associations. A non-uniform day in the Girls’ Division also raised money for Children in Need in the Autumn Term. Year 7’s sponsored silence in 2020 raised £2,711 for the Centrepoint Manchester, a charity which helps young homeless people aged 16-25 years. As December rolled around again, Christmas Jumper Day was another opportunity to raise money for charity. The £818.14 raised in the Girls’ Division went towards the ‘Pringle Bells’ Urban Outreach Hamper Challenge, which in 2020 saw the school collecting tubes of Pringles. The aim was 700 individual tubes to reduce the amount of stock handled in school, plus a cash donation to match the normal contribution. The Senior Girls rose to the challenge and ended up donating 608 tubes of a total 1,503 tubes collected across the whole Foundation. The drive-in Ceremony of Carols also raised money for the same cause, and allowed the school to hand over a cheque for an additional £1,658.14! Throughout 2020-21, pupils have also continued with their volunteering efforts. Particular mention should be made of the nine Year 13 students and 31 Year 11 pupils who completed the volunteering requirements for their Gold and Silver Duke of Edinburgh Awards during the pandemic, despite much reduced opportunities to assist in the local community.
