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Community Action
In the Autumn Term, the whole school participated enthusiastically in the October Harvest Festival, donating generously to the collection for Urban Outreach Storehouse campaign. Members of the Sixth Form filled 30 boxes of produce that helped to feed those in need in the Bolton area.
Shoebox Appeal
Girls have donated 200 shoeboxes for Samaritan Purse’s Operation Christmas Child. Girls in Years 7 to 13 were asked to fill a shoebox with small gifts appropriate to a girl or boy aged 2 to 4 years, 5 to 9 years or 10 to 14 years. Their effort was supplemented by a large haul of shoeboxes from Years 3 to 6 girls in the Junior School. The pupils helped load up the van and the boxes will be delivered to children in need in Africa and Eastern Europe, in time for Christmas. The Year 12 students have approached their volunteering commitments across the region this year with passion and drive, registering over 6550 volunteering hours on the vInspired system, and achieving the highest number of awards in the last 7 years. This includes 18 Gold certificates, acknowledging over 100 volunteering hours. A fantastic achievement! ‘Tea at the Riley’ has grown since its inception in October 2014, and this March’s Tea Party was one of the largest yet, with seventy-five guests joining the girls in the Riley Centre for the afternoon.
The Sixth Form girls asked Junior Girls’ School pupils to help them out with the baking, serving the food and providing entertainment. Year 5 have been doing a unit on the elderly as part of their School work and so this was a great opportunity for them to come and meet the ‘Tea at the Riley’ guests. They brought with them a great deal of energy and enthusiasm for the task and it was lovely for the guests to be able to chat with another age group at the tea party. The delicious spread of food at this month’s Tea at the Riley showcased the wide range of involvement across the Girls’ Division; the Year 5 girls had helped to make the scones in a special session in the Senior School, while the selection of finger sandwiches were put together by Year 8 Food Technology students, and the delicious cakes and other sweet treats were hand-made by the Sixth Form volunteers.
Fizzy Crisp-Mas Hamper
Over 35 volunteering Year 12 students, split into five enterprising teams, had three weeks from launch to deadline to provide crisps and cans of pop, aiming to create 1200 Christmas food hampers for the town’s neediest households. They encouraged the rest of the Senior Girls to donate 2270 bags of crisps and 514 cans of fizzy drinks, as well as raising £941.78 through bag packing at supermarkets; cake sales; a raffle at Tea at the Riley; a craft sale; a FIFA video game challenge; a stall at the Junior Boys’ Christmas Fair and through other donations. The Junior Girls were also keen to take part in the campaign and filled their Grub Tub with over 250 bags of gold coins, enough for every child who will receive a hamper this year. Sixth Form student, Victoria Jolley, who played an integral role in organising events, said:
