In the • Junior and Senior School Edition •
Acts of Kindness Issue April/May 2020
This issue is dedicated to all of the ways that the NHSG community have been united in their mission to spread kindness and joy throughout these testing times. It provides just a snapshot of the fantastic range of acts of kindness taking place across our whole community. We hope you enjoy reading these pages filled with positive news stories.
Where girls learn without limits
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NHSG comes together to #ClapForOurCarers Millions of people across the United Kingdom have been using their Thursday evenings as an opportunity to show their appreciation for NHS staff and other key workers. Clap For Our Carers has become a weekly event as locked-down communities come together on their doorsteps to clap in unison, applause ringing out across otherwise quiet skylines. While some of us may feel a little helpless during this period of uncertainty, this simple but meaningful act of solidarity with frontline workers allows us to show our support from afar. We set out to showcase Newcastle High’s appreciation and created a video featuring girls from across the whole school clapping at home. True to NHSG girls’ creative spirit, they adopted an eclectic range of apparatus to amplify the sounds of their appreciation, from pots and pans, to whistles and trumpets! Some of our community’s pets were eager to join in too; we witnessed a very cute clapping kitten, an excitable puppy and Mrs Franks-Doyle’s mischievous dog, Maude, making a racket to rival the neighbours! Thank you to everyone who took part. Keep clapping, girls! You can watch the video on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/ zUsRsSCuQUU
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NHSG rising to 2.5 challenge for Walker’s Emergency Food Appeal Fundraising events across the UK have been cancelled due to the current climate, which is having a devastating impact on charitable organisations. The Virgin Money London Marathon alone, which was due to take place on 26th April, is the world’s biggest one-day fundraising event which raises around £70 million for thousands of charities each year. Many of these charities have had to reduce or stop services at a time when vulnerable members of society need them most. It was for this reason that the 2.6 Challenge came to fruition. The nationwide initiative, based on the date of the cancelled marathon, asked the nation to complete sponsored activities based on said number to try and recoup some of the funds for struggling organisations.
Once again, our school community rose to the challenge with gusto! Evidence of efforts from pupils, parents and staff alike flooded in and so did the kind and generous donations. A huge well done must go to Year 4 who raised a tremendous £300. The girls brainstormed ideas and came up with lots of suggestions for the challenge such as 2.5 hour bike rides and staying off their iPads for 2.5 hours (which the parents agreed would require some serious willpower and determination!). They set a group target of £250 and the girls were inspired to create a piece of word art that spelled out a message for the food bank (see p4). Before they knew it they had surpassed
their goal and raised £300! Because of the hard work of our community, we are delighted that we are already 45% of the way to meeting our fundraising target of £2500, which we hope to reach by the end of the Summer. Through the money we have raised and continue to raise, we hope to be able to make a small difference to those who need it most. To check our progress and donate visit: https://www. justgiving.com/fundraising/ newcastle-high-school-for-girls-25-challenge.
The response from NHSG girls was extremely positive, many of them finding unique ways to incorporate 2.6 or 26 into weird and wonderful activities. The success of the challenge prompted us to think of ways we could make it our own and raise funds for a local cause. Food banks are working extremely hard to maintain resources for their communities at this time so we felt it would be entirely appropriate to support the Walker Emergency Food Appeal and help them meet the increasingly high demands of helping those facing financial hardship and uncertain futures. 2.5 seemed a fitting number for our challenge as there are 25 schools within SeeGDST all offamily. the pictures on the School Facebook page! @Newcastle High School For the
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Miss Penny and Mr Gouge certainly pushed themselves to the limit in their choice of challenge. While lots of entries to the NHSG 2.5 challenge were fitness related, Sam Rocks, Year 12, decided to bake 25 delicious biscuits as well as completing a 2.5km run. We think you’ll agree they look delicious!
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in our community Rachel challenges her limits for Chron’s and Colitis UK Rachel Peutherer, Year 12, has set herself an ambitious challenge. It’s a challenge she has been plotting for some time but could not attempt due to her extensive musical commitments. On ist March, Rachel was appointed Head Chorister at Newcastle Cathedral, with the responsibility of leading the Girls’ Choir for three services a week. Sadly, the Cathedral closed its doors a fortnight later due to Covid-19 so other than recording an anthem from home for the online Easter Day service and running weekly social Zoom catch ups with the girls, she hasn’t been able to fulfil her duties as she might wish. With all the extra time this has brought her (she usually invests two evenings and half a Sunday in the Cathedral Choir), Rachel has been able to train for a challenge that she has been dreaming about for the past three years: she is going to cycle from Newcastle to Berwick (approximately 80 miles) to raise funds for Crohn’s and Colitis UK. She admits she has never been ‘sporty’ so this challenge may come as a surprise for some, but it is all for a cause that is very close to her heart. Rachel was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2017 and the charity has supported her in a number of
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ways, including helping her to understand what was happening to her body.
Rachel is planning to complete her monumental cycle once lockdown lifts so that her Mum does not have to complete a Due to COVID-19, Crohn’s and non-essential journey to collect Colitis UK have lost 60% of her from the Berwick finish-line. We completely admire her their income for the year as all of their summer events are courage and determination for cancelled. Calls to their helpline taking on such a feat in have increased by 400%, visits uncharted territory, in aid of a to their website have increased very deserving cause. by 600%, and they are To find out more and to donate, struggling to cope with the details can be found here: limited funds they have. https://www.justgiving.com/ Hospital appointments are fundraising/rachelhasguts?fbcli being cancelled all the time d=IwAR2SKcLGgx3y-0arVolm_ (including Rachel’s) and the charity is the first port of call for D3LAWiVN3L796tawyKEw72Y 0lrJ2GS5j9a0GwU&utm_ those suffering with Crohn’s or id=124 Colitis.
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Romir rides bike to raise funds for NHS Kyra Seghal, Year 7, has a very special little brother. Five year old Romir, inspired by Colonel Tom Moore, decided that he really wanted to help the NHS because of the fantastic work they are doing to fight off Coronavirus. He had a goal of £500 and a plan to complete a small bike ride of 6 laps on his street everyday. One week of cycling later and Romir had surpassed his original target, not by a little but by a phenomenal 398%! In total he has raised £1,991 and shown us that small actions can have a huge impact. His efforts were recognised by both the Chronicle and the Journal and he has made our community, and especially sister Kyra, very proud indeed. Well done, Romir!
Mya’s morning deliveries Mya, Year 2, has been looking out for her elderly neighbours by delivering essentials to their front door each morning. This wonderful gesture of kindness will have a huge impact on her community. Thank you for being so thoughtful, Mya.
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Autumn swaps swimming for running in aid of animal rehoming centre Athletic Autumn Vaulkhard, Year 6, is a member of Newcastle Swim Team and regularly competed in school Netball and Hockey competitions. After lockdown was announced, she quickly found she was missing her friends and her sports, especially swimming. In fact, she was feeling completely fed up. Autumn knew she needed to find a new hobby to keep herself fit and active while out of the pool so she decided she would do a 5km run every day, despite the small issue of disliking running! To keep herself motivated, she pledged to raise money for charity with her daily runs so set up a funding page with a target of raising £250 for the local Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter. Autumn has stuck to her guns and is running every day, getting fitter and stronger with each outing. She has already surpassed her fundraising target, raising an outstanding £2,650 so far. Autumn’s mum Ali runs with her, and together they have been taking lots of nice photos while exercising around Jesmond Dene and Newcastle, maintaining social distancing at all times. If you would like to support Autumn and help out the Newcastle Dog and Cat shelter can visit: https://www.justgiving.com/ fundraising/autumn-vaulkhard
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Laxmi steams ahead with patient supply packs A huge well done to Laxmi Malhotra, Year 8, who has been part of a Ponteland-based response team preparing toiletry bags for patients in hospitals and hospices. Laxmi created 100 kits of her own at home and, collectively, her neighbourhood has donated over 1000 toiletry bags which have been gratefully received by Northumbria NHS Hospitals, Alnwick Hospital and Macmillan Cancer Support. Laxmi’s work is not yet done as she plans to tackle the team’s next mission of gathering supplies for Food Banks. You’re doing a fantastic job Laxmi, keep going!
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Lockdown concert lifts community spirit Those of you who tuned in to watch the NHSG Lockdown Concert on Wednesday 16th May will know that the efforts of the NHSG Music Department thoroughly paid off with the success of our virtual musical production. In the absence of our Spring and Summer concerts in school, Mr Newey had one objective: to lift the spirits of our community using the power of NHSG Music. Senior School pupils recorded their performances from the safety of home and sent it to Mr Newey, who pieced together their musical talents into a stunning 80 minute showcase. It was a lovely feeling to know we were all watching together, unified in the admiration for beautiful music and we received some wonderful feedback from parents:
“I write to express our gratitude for the work done by the Music department at NHSG. The concert provided a real lift to us as a family and it was made extra special as grandparents and other family members across the country were able to enjoy the talent, whereas in ‘normal times’ they would not have the opportunity to do so. It was lovely to see so many of the girls take part.” We hope you will be able to enjoy NHSG music live in the school hall soon, but for now, the lockdown concert has made the wait a little easier! Thank you to all the girls that took part and to Mr Newey for bringing this historic event into being.
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A critical time for Mental Health Awareness Week
The last week of this term was Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) which provided an important opportunity to tune into our feelings and the feelings of those around us. This year MHAW feels more important than ever. Covid-19 has now had a far reaching impact on people right across the world and it has affected many of the normal coping strategies we use to deal with stress, as well as on the everyday activities that underpins our emotional wellbeing. To recognise Mental Health Awareness Week in a virtual space, Nurse Wilson and School Counsellor, Miss Stewart, very cleverly coined the concept “Stall in Your Hall(way)”, an adaption of our termly Stall In The Hall event held in School. Using Microsoft Teams as our discussion platform, girls were invited to browse the various channels and contribute to content and conversations along the official theme of kindness. Among the resources available there were anonymous Acts of Kindness surveys, online meditation
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sessions, Kindness playlists, thought-provoking theory from teachers across a range of subjects (did you know there is a mathematical theory for altruism?) and topical videos. One such video showed Miss Stewart’s insightful interview with Mr Tippett (pictured above) to obtain his thoughts on the complex and multi-faceted construct of kindness. Mr Tippett touched upon more abstract ways to show kindness, such as helping the environment, which will serve to benefit future generations. It was a poignant reminder as to just how many ways there are to show kindness.
shared a video on the MHAW Teams channel to showcase the kind behaviours that Junior School girls had been exhibiting, as well as some uplifting messages they wanted to share with friends. It was great to see so many girls taking an active role in the exercises and discussions throughout the week and reinforced how important it is to dedicate time to check in and connect with one another.
Nurse Wilson and Miss Stewart also hosted a live chat on Wednesday lunchtime, taking questions and talking in detail on what kindness means to them. We concluded the week by circulating an Acts of Kindness video which was a montage of girls’ submissions on how they have demonstrated kindness recently (the link will be available after the half-term break) . Mrs Barnett also
Girls demonstrated a variety of Acts of Kindness in their videos, including sending care packages to loved ones.