Community Action Volunteering Newsletter Spring 2024

NEWSLETTER

“MY ROOTS OF SERVICE”

BY ELLA R.

My passion for service finds its roots in the remarkable life of my grandmother, Meera R. The secret flame that has fueled my 80-year-old grandmother's service since 1967 has been the satisfaction she derives from helping those in need - a flame I am proud of carrying forward

My grandmother's impactful journey has spanned across both urban and rural India, addressing causes such as health, education, women's empowerment, juvenile delinquency, and environmental initiatives

My grandmother draws a lot of her inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi's wisdom on social work. He believed the primary motivation for social workers should be the well-being of those in need, without any expectation of personal gain To date, my grandmother has always taught me that helping those in need is our duty and not a route to fame She also follows the empowerment of communities principle of Mahatma Gandhi. Empowering people to take charge of their destinies contributes to meaningful and sustainable impact Take for instance, her work with tribal communities. Instead of just building toilets for the poor in the villages - she taught the members of the village the importance of hygiene, privacy, and safety resulting in the villages using the toilets properly and working hard to build more for their community. Instead of just planting trees for the tribal folk in India to help them secure continual food - she educated them on why planting trees would benefit them and taught them the process of planting Through this, the women in the tribe fell

in love with the process and learned how to cultivate seeds, develop a food bank, and improve the nutrition of their children.

Other projects my grandmother has worked on include:

Organising free cataract clinics for elderly people who cannot afford the operation. Educating remote tribal people on how to harvest rainwater.

Organising local veterinary service for street cows that had ingested plastic from garbage on the street.

Setting up of a womens cooperative enabling women suffering from domestic abuse to earn and save their income

My deep-rooted passion for service comes from my grandmother, who may seem extraordinary at first, but for my sister, Lyla, and I, her story seems to represent what humankind should make the norm. Recently, my sister and I conquered Mt. Kilimanjaro, not merely for the challenge but driven by the profound purpose to give back - The ‘secret flame’.

Villagers learning paddy cultivation

This flame led me to raise $13,000 for the critically endangered Arabian Sea Humpback Whales, facing extinction in the seas native to my home, Oman With only 82 of these majestic creatures left, the funds are directed to the Environment Society of Oman (ESO), an NGO in Oman ESO not only conducts vital research to conserve and protect these whales but, like my grandmother, also focuses on the double effect ESO educates the people in villages across Oman as well as future generations about the significance of the whales and rallying collective efforts to secure their future.In raising funds, my aim is not just financial support but a holistic impact- on the species and the communities.

My sister, Lyla, raised $5000 to uplift the playground used by the Special needs school for children of low-income families in Oman. She has supported this school in the past when she won a school award of $1000 - she decided to pay school fees for the children whose families incomes were negatively impacted by COVID. This school remains dear to Lyla and her desire to ensure children with different abilities also have an opportunity to get an education and improve their physical and mental abilities

As family we are committed to making a meaningful difference - one purposeful act at a time - We individually choose a cause each year and work towards supporting it.

Riding a mule to visit a girls school in a Himalayan village

VOLUNTEERING HAILEYBURY UK VS MELBOURNE

BY JEMMA H.

We are fortunate to have Eve Astbury from Haileybury Melbourne, as an exchange student, joining the community action group for her three weeks here and so upon speaking with her we have identified differences between the volunteering action at Haileybury UK and Haileybury Melbourne This article will explore this action and how we could potentially introduce some of the volunteering activities here from Melbourne

To start, Eve told me about Haileybury Melbourne’s ‘Student2Student’ reading programme. This involves matching students who need to improve their literacy skills, with peer ‘Buddies’ who help and encourage them with their reading; This helps younger students who need help developing their reading skills do so in a comfortable, reliable and safe space. This is part of an initiative by ‘The Smith Family’ charity, as it is the chosen charity for Flagstaff (one of the girls houses) at Senior School Haileybury City The Smith Family is an Australian charity which believes “education is one of the world’s most powerful change agents”. Through fundraising and other initiatives, like the Student2Student program, The Smith Family focuses on helping young Australians to overcome educational inequality

HAILEYBURY COMMUNITY ACTION AND VOLUNTEERING SPRING 2024

caused by poverty. City Senior School students volunteer their time outside of school, and can either mobile call or video call their students for an hour to read through a picture book with a child in the programme This reminded me of the ‘Little Fairy Library’ initiative created by the Community Action and Volunteering Group here at Haileybury UK. For this initiative, students have presented assemblies, made posters, and sent emails to encourage donations of children’s books to be put on a book shelf at the end of the fairy trail in Hailey woods, as well as a library at the local village hall. In addition to this, students have made voice recordings of the books and attached correlating QR codes to them to help children read by listening along at the same time. Another volunteering opportunity available at Haileybury Melbourne is their annual food drive. During Christmas time, all of the sixteen Haileybury Senior School Houses are assigned a product or ‘thing’ to have a drive for. The food drive consists of students collecting products, like food or sanitary items, to be stockpiled and distributed to those who cannot afford or get these things. Flagstaff, Eve’s house, was assigned to collect rice for the food drive, this year Their senior leadership team worked on designing posters, collecting the bags of rice, and encouraging various tutor groups to bring in rice To encourage people to participate, a competition was held between tutor groups to see who could bring in the most bags of rice. This compares to here, whereby every year in the first term a ‘food bank’ box is given to each house to encourage donations of store cupboard essentials such as beans, rice and pasta Finally, Eve told me about the recent Nepal trip that took place for students to participate in a service programme including the construction of a library. Haileybury Melbourne has a strong relationship with the Dili International School Every year, Haileybury Melbourne sends a group of Year 11 Student Leaders to Timor-Leste as part of the Social Justice Program In July of

2023, the group of students helped paint libraries alongside other community service actions, whilst forming relationships with the younger children at the Dili School. Dili International School describes how their institution “nurtures open-minded global citizens who respectfully celebrate diversity to help build an inclusive and equitable future for Timor-Leste and the world” and Haileybury Melbourne is glad to have contributed towards this reputation. Similarly, Haileybury UK’s trip to Uganda in partnership with Haileybury Youth Trust (HYT) will take place between 8th and 19th July 2024 with the theme of ‘Service and Safari’ On this trip, students will visit rural HYT sites and offer their service whilst participating in activities such as football, singing, drumming and dancing, as well as attending a safari, rhino tracking and boat trip to the river Nile

THE ART OF ACTIONNANCY V.

Haileybury has extended its community focus to support outside projects such as decorating a local hospital with impactful art pieces. Community Action Volunteering came up with an incredible idea of painting a wall in Hertford

Heath Village Hall to make it a brighter and more welcoming place However, a fellow volunteer Lina Y. who was organising this event decided to also make a painting for one of the local hospitals. This idea was a result of her visit to one of the hospitals where she was visiting a family member After the visit Lina realised that it would be a kind gesture to brighten up the place with an art piece and make it more enjoyable for both patients and visitors. Moreover, this project also has an environmental idea to it as instead of using normal paint Lina used special environmentally friendly paint. This paint is designed to absorb CO2 in the period of thirty days after application. This doesn’t only help the environment with the enhanced greenhouse effect gases in the atmosphere but also “brightens it up” as Lina stated.

WHY IS CREATIVITY IMPORTANT? - CARA F.

One way in which creativity is important is because it helps us keep engaged. Creativity is crucial to help maintain a good mental wellbeing, reduce stress and stimulate our imaginations. Among many other things, creativity is key for personal growth, better communication and improving skills which is crucial for being successful.

Moma is a platform which informs people who are keen about art to participate in art competitions which can result in exciting exhibitions. Moma has a range of differing forms of art competitions, such as portraits and prints, involving participants to use a variety of materials such as pastels, sculpture, ceramic, glass, and all competitions ranging in what type of painting they require.

These art competitions are available for people from multiple locations to participate from and for a wide range of ages, which may be of interest to Haileybury students All competitions

involve an exciting cash prize, one in which participants can win £35,000 One competition even involved a luxury travel award prize where participants can stay on the south coast of Spain with up to 6 people. Although some of these competitions require an entry fee, there are also many competitions that are free of charge for those that may not be able to afford it. The most important factor for these competitions is that you are eager to explore art and dedicate your creativity to your project However, it is important to make sure that you do not get too disheartened if your artwork does not win as there are many eager artists who participate in these competitions

An example of one of the many art competitions available is the Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award. This competition is for ‘the previously named BP Portrait Award to the National Portrait Gallery showcasing the best in contemporary portrait painting’. The last held being the BP Portrait Award in 2020 This competition is available for all UK and International artists who are over 18 with a £35 fee (1 piece of work maximum). The work entered should be a painting as the human figure must be the main subject of the piece. This competition requires a specific criteria to be used, for example the images should use oil amongst other mediums. The winning art piece will be shown at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Lastly, there are four prizes to be won. The first prize being £35,000, Second Prize £12,000, Third Prize £10,000 and the last prize, named the Young Artist Award, is £9,000 (which is for anyone aged 30 and under).

HOW UNIVERSITIES VALUE SERVICE - CHARLOTTE E.

As an initiative to take part in uni, volunteering has a significant amount of unrecognised benefits It can make you more employable as it enforces the skills you need for a fast-changing and competitive job market such as: emotional intelligence, cognitive flexibility, collaboration, creativity and problem solving. UCL offers a breadth of different volunteering groups to suit

yourself These include three core principles: innovation, redevelopment and collaboration. Innovation encourages students to take initiative and make a difference To decide which activity is the most useful, UCL hosts Volunteering Fairs which are designed to help you discover London’s many vibrant communities and get involved in exciting opportunities Some students have volunteered with Empathy Actions as part of the UCL Consultancy Challenge or a Studentled Project to prepare to go the extra-mile employers like to see.

The UCL Student-Led Volunteering Programme enables students to develop leadership and project management skills whilst positively impacting the lives of Londoners. To support this fantastic extracurricular, UCL provides students with regular support and guidance as well as being able to apply for £500 to aid with costs. A somewhat unheard of event called a ‘Social Hackathon’ is organised by UCL where students are placed with a ‘local not-for-profit’ organisation for a day and devise and implement solutions to issues they currently face.

There is strong evidence provided by UCL that shows the positive impact of volunteering on students’ development of skills, academic life and general well-being; this was found in their 2021 student survey which focussed on students' sense of alliance.

Moreover, volunteering looks excellent on your personal statement, and also adds to your UCAS points (in certain activities). Such volunteering acts include:

fundraising for a charity or campaigning for a cause going abroad to help with international aid volunteering with a local sports team for young people spending your time in a animal shelter working with the elderly in a care home giving first aid or handing out supplies to the homeless

supporting in a local library or a community centre

Disregarding the benefits of personal statement and UCAS, volunteering allows you to make a difference to people's lives and the world in lots of roles and also demonstrate your passion about a particular cause.

Haileybury offers all of these opportunities, from international aid to litter picking to supporting local groups. You can be a part of it, even if it is not your Wednesday afternoon activity. Mrs Iorio offers SALT (Service at Lunch Time), where you can organise in house food donations and much more Taking this drive for action and change will put you in the best stead for life after Haileybury.

ART FOR GHANA

Also another exciting news: six of our talented A Level Art puils will start teaching art to a chilad in Ghana, supporting Humanitas charity. We are very excited for this initiative! Pupild were planning a series of Zoom lessons but unfortunately the wifi in not the best in the schoo we would like to reach. For this reasons are planning a series of video calls during the half term, teaching core lessons and fundamental skills. In the future, we are hoping to involve and inspire more children in this captivating activity.

BRITISH SIGN LANGUAGE - CHARLOTTE E.

Two of our pupils, Zoe B. and Ava R. stand out as they conducted weekly sessions at the local Village Hall in Hertford Heath, to teach sign language to about twenty people, creating a supportive and friendly atmosphere.

When speaking to Ava she revealed that not only was she very surprised by the large turn out, but also she was impressed by their will power to learn. The desire to learn sign langue come from different reasons: some couples wanting to learn in order to communicate with each other at home, or they have grandchildren who are deaf and were excited by the idea that they may finally be able to engage in full conversation with them. Ava and Zoe described it as a remarkable and fulfilling experience and is excited to continue this and involve other Haileybury students.

"Introducing British Sign Language (BSL) in schools could greatly enhance inclusivity. Encouraging more individuals to explore sign language learning. Though it is growing popularity, especially as BSL emerges as the fastest-growing language in the UK, seeing as one in six people are deaf or are hard of hearing in the UK as well as 150,000 people use BSL as their first language . The expanding group at Haileybury, dedicated to sign language learning, aims to support disabled children through their program "Hearts and Wings.", opening up this holiday to more children, to create a bigger impact.

In a recent interview with Kosi U, an enthusiast and volunteer of our Wednesday Volunteering activities, she shared her experience in the past months as she is learning BSL with Ms Bishop, which she found not only enjoyable, but of benefit to a wider audience with its simplicity.

Kosi also highlighted the benefits and relevance of sign language education, we aim to inspire widespread participation in learning this valuable skill

In April Ava will start another series of lessons at the Village Hall! Well done to all the pupils and teachers involved.

NEWS notsoold

MARCH 2024

8 MARCH WOMEN’S DAY FLASHMOB

Back to 1968: Pupils Transported Back in Time to Recreate the #FreedomTrashCan Protest for #Women's Rights

Recently, a group of students embarked on a journey through history, revisiting the impactful #FreedomTrashCan protest of 1968 in support of #Women's Rights

They passionately recreated the moment with striking posters and powerful slogans, honoring the individuals who valiantly fought for #equality. This event served as a poignant reminder of the ongoing struggle for gender parity. Join us in celebrating #TimeTravelActivism on #Women'sDay as we recognize and commemorate these champions of change.

13 MARCH

THE MAGIC FAIRY TRAIL HERTFORD HEATH

A magical afternoon unfolded at the Hertford Heath Fairy Trail, where families, children, and our remarkable pupils came together for an enchanting experience. We are thrilled to announce the trail's upcoming reopening and eagerly anticipate crafting more wonderful stories and magic in the woods! #Fairytrail

11-17 MARCH

THE BIG PLASTIC COUNT

A group of pupils participated to the #BigPlasticCount week! Our volunteers gave awesome presentations to Lower school pupils on recycling #plastic and invite them to a series of workshops next week, including creating art from plastic. Let's make a difference!

��♻ #Recycle #ReduceReuseRecycle

Greenpeace and Everyday Plastic are the organisers of The Big Plastic Count.

In 2022 nearly 250,000 people from schools, households and communities across the country made The Big Plastic Count the biggest investigation into UK household plastic waste. It showed that almost 100 billion pieces of plastic are thrown away in the UK each year, with hardly any of it recycled.

Toluwalase F. encouraged everyone to be part of this event distributing tally sheets to count plastic in every House:

“The volunteering team in school has volunteered to take part in The Big Plastic Count, where the amount of plastic we throw away that week is counted. In addition to data that will be given by other households in the UK, this information can be used to provide helpful insight to the government, on how effectively we are recycling plastics as a country.

To increase the accuracy of our findings, I am hoping to get all 12 Haileybury houses involved in this investigation. If you are fine with this, I would like to suggest maybe having a whiteboard and whiteboard marker on the fridge door(or around where the bins are) so that people can make a tally when they throw a piece of plastic away throughout the course of the week (a template is attached below) However, if that is not feasible perhaps there could be a mention in Call so that others can be aware of what is happening.

As a team, we are really aiming to be as efficient as possible in this investigation, and would greatly appreciate your involvement”.

Toluwalase

RUGBY CHARITY MATCH 12 MARCH

A remarkable initiative led by Mr. Owen and the students of Batten House on 12 March.

A rugby match held in support of local charity Mudlarks has raised over £2000! This significant contribution is set to make a positive impact on the beneficiaries of this noble cause. Congratulations to all involved!

PUPILS DIVE INTO CONSERVATION SWIFT BOX PROJECT!

We are excited to announce that our pupils have started an amazing journey in conservation! With the help of Mr Metcalfe and the DT Team, along with Mr. Fleming from the Hertford Swift group, our pupils have learned how to create swift boxes This hands-on project not only helps them connect with nature but also plays a part in protecting these wonderful birds. We will keep you updated on their progress as they continue to make a real difference in safeguarding swift populations Together, we are working towards a brighter, more sustainable future foreveryone!

The swift box project aligns closely with SDG 15: Life on Land This goal aims to protect, restore, and sustainably use terrestrial ecosystems, manage forests properly, combat desertification, stop land degradation, and prevent biodiversity loss. By providing nesting spaces for swifts, this project directly contributes to preserving biodiversity and maintaining ecosystem health on land. The project also partially aligns with SDG 14: Life Below Water because swifts, as aerial insectivores, help to maintain ecological balance in aquatic environments by controllinginsectpopulations.

CHILDREN BOOKS THE READING PROJECT

For this very interesting project, Laura and Mimi have been collecting books for ages 4-14 and redecorated a bookcase for the local village hall This project is part of a larger project called the Little Fairy Trail and another team of pupils, lead by Tolu, read the books and created a library of readings and QRcodes!

Mimi: collection of books and spreading awareness

Laura: coordinating the bookcase redecoration and spreading awareness

Challenges:

Mimi - Throughout this project, there have been many challenges such as where to find a bookcase and how to redo it completely and how to make this project as impactful as possible for the local community with limited resources that we have. Due to this project being over several months, it was challenging to maintain the momentum and making sure that we were trying to maximise the time we had to organise this project!

Laura - The project brought on many different challenges, though the one i found most daunting was time management. We had to reschedule some of our process due to the dead line being pushed up, I had to figure out a way to finish the priming, add the paint and place the tensions within a two day time frame, it was challenging though I believe we managed to pull through by working together and not being afraid to ask for help when needed

What we’ve learnt:

Mimi - In this project, I have learnt that organisation and communication is key Due to Laura and I delegating different tasks, it was integral that we maintained communication by giving regular and especially at the end when coordinating our efforts Organisation was also very important when planning this project and coordinating our different parts at the end in order to make sure it was being done efficiently but to a high standard I am very proud of our achievement!

Laura - Throughout the month I have learned that the only way to create something new and impressive is through working Our collaboration with each other and experts in various field is what made the project possible and the experience worthwhile I learned to work with people, to listen to their ideas whilst also sharing mine and landing on compromises that would best fit the project Cooperation is what made this project possible, and i’m proud of the result me and Mimi achieved.

HAILEY HALL & ROSELAND HAILEY HALL & ROSELAND HAILEY HALL & ROSELAND

PRIMARY HEROES PRIMARY HEROES PRIMARY HEROES

CONGRATULATIONS to all our volunteers who supported local schools & the allotment in the past two Terms

And also good luck to U6th leaving the team to focus on their A level exams!

Mudlarks is coming to Haileybury!

We are thrilled to announce that Mudlarks is soon to be a part of the Haileybury family!

As part of this new partnership, two polytunnels will be constructed on the school grounds These structures will enable Mudlarks to cultivate fresh vegetables for their Café, providing our students with the opportunity to learn about sustainable agriculture and healthy eating practices.

This collaboration not only serves the community but also presents a valuable learning experience for our pupils. Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting initiative!

We are thrilled to announce that Haileybury has joined the Drinkable Rivers programme and has established its own hub. Our school is committed to actively contributing to the monitoring and preservation of our local river's health, the River Lea, in alignment with the global effort to achieve drinkable rivers. This initiative reflects our school dedication to environmental stewardship and community engagement This project brings together Volunteering, STEM and Sustainability.

The Drinkable Rivers citizen science programme is a pioneering initiative that empowers individuals to actively monitor the health of their local rivers By engaging in this programme, our pupils will play a vital role in tracking the progress towards the ultimate goal of achieving drinkable rivers worldwide.

At present, the programme encompasses 60 citizen science hubs spanning across 20 countries These hubs are led by passionate individuals who galvanise volunteers within their communities to participate. The majority of these hubs are affiliated with local environmental organisations, schools, visitor centres, or companies.

The programme provides each hub with a professional, standardised measurement kit, comprehensive introduction workshops and instructional videos for ongoing support, manuals and instruction videos, and a data platform for data sharing and mutual learning