CHARITIES & VOLUNTEERING
STATIONARY COLLECTION UPDATE!
We have just received an update from ‘Serving our Heroes’ as to where all your fabulous stationery donations have gone to A large amount was passed to the local branch of Care4Calais. The items will be included in Christmas parcels for the hundreds of asylum seekers and refugee children C4C support in West London Other donations have gone to individual Ukrainian refugees (one of whom was especially thrilled as she loves art and now has a fab art box and sketch book) The remaining items are being donated to a Primary School in Southall and a small box is heading to a Primary school in Kenya through the charity justbeachild org uk Serving our Heroes asked us to pass on their Thanks to all the girls for their fabulous donations’
CHARITY BREAKFAST MORNING
On the 29th of November, Charity Reps took part in the first ever Charity Reps Christmas Breakfast Singing and making festive hairbands, our Charity Reps had a relaxing morning bonding over freshly baked pastries and some juice The Charity reps are at the front line of the students' charity initiatives in school: they are the planners the managers and the leaders stirring their year group throughout the month For this reason, we thought it was important to acknowledge their efforts and reward their kindness with kindness
D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 2 • I S S U E 2 •
Hi! I'm Beatrice one of this year's Volunteering Leads! I wanted to become a Volunteering Rep as I felt that it was a role which gave me a great opportunity to make a meaningful difference Through this position I am able to get involved in so many different volunteering opportunities and have the chance to make a positive change to the world For these reasons I was very interested in signing up to become a Volunteering Lead I believe that it is a very impactful role and look forward to taking it on this year!
Hi everyone my name is Samara and I'm one of your new Year 10 Volunteering Reps I am very excited to start working in this role and help NHEHS continue and further its charity work and volunteering As a part of my role I want to be able to raise more money for charity by initiating entertaining activities for people to take part in and setting up fundraisers that will be memorable and engaging for you to do with your friends As well as this, I hope to encourage everyone to help out in the community more by joining charities or consider donating items to people in need as especially at this time of year people need it the most Volunteering is rewarding and enjoyable and will make a difference in other people's lives I look forward to starting my role as a Volunteering Lead and I hope you all enjoy the fundraisers we set up and consider taking part!
Hi, I'm Corinne and I am one of this year's year 10's volunteering leads The reason that I wanted to be a volunteering leader is because I have always been passionate about helping others and ever since I was very young, I have been very eager to help out at bake sales, skipathons and seasonal events in order to raise awareness for charities and the help that they provide I also volunteered at the Care 4 Calais hostel as I was a year 9 humanitarian leader In addition to this, in my spare time I volunteer at Fara Kids every Saturday This position is a very good way to help me work on and expand my group communication skills
Hello everyone, my name is Tilly and I am one of your volunteering reps from year 10 I am really excited to work with you all to raise money for charities, through many exciting events and give something back to our community I’m currently volunteering in a charity shop and have done many fundraising events inside and outside of school I find that volunteering is rewarding for you and many others, for this reason I strongly recommend that you join in with the school's many amazing volunteering opportunities, and I hope to see you there!
Hi! My name is Areesha and I am one of your Charity reps this year I really enjoy helping for charity and I am very excited for this coming year and all the volunteering I have volunteered in the past many times for many organisations for example Ealing Food Bank and Care 4 Calais I can t wait for the upcoming events!
Hi I am Asher (they/them) and I am one of your new volunteering leads I'm in year 10 and I volunteer at Oxfam in my free time I am passionate about helping my surrounding community and doing my part in supporting others I began volunteering seriously at the beginning of this year for D for E and it inspired me so much that it encouraged me to sign up for this role to widen the range of activities and charities this school helps
MEET THE YEAR 10 CHARITY REPS
VOLUNTEERING
CHESNUT LODGE CRAFT AFTERNOON
One of the Year 10 enrichment class travelled to the Chestnut Lodge to do crafts and speak with the older people in the care home Although at first when we arrived it was difficult to communicate with them, everyone eventually became more comfortable and had a fulfilling afternoon learning about their experiences in life and hearing their advice
We created some artistic masterpieces including colouring sheets and butterfly projects whilst others enjoyed playing games such as bingo to lighten the atmosphere Spending time with the seniors in the care home was an eye-opening experience as we were able to gain a greater appreciation for the luxuries we live with now and were able to get in touch with people from previous generations
MENCAP CHRISTMAS FAIR
One of the Year 10 Enrichment group organised and hosted a fair for around 8 people who came from Mencap. We decorated the Recital Hall with many balloons, paper chains and tinsel There were multiple tables set up by us with different activities The activities included cookie decorating, snowflake making, colouring in, bracelet making and origami With Christmas music playing in the background, the atmosphere was very fun and everyone from school and Mencap both were enjoying themselves. Towards the end of the fair, the choir enrichment group came and together we all sang some carols Overall, it was a great event and it was wonderful to meet and talk to the people from Mencap We received an email from the Mencap team to thank the Y10 team ‘for making us feel so welcome again’
VOLUNTEERING
TREE PLANTING AT BLONDIN PARK
For our class’s Enrichment session, we travelled to Blondin Park to help preserve the nature in the park including litter picking and tree planting We were split up into three groups: litter picking, mulch shovelling and tree planting
Working as a team made the work more efficient and enjoyable with a leader guiding us on what to do and some strategies to make our work better and easier The leaders were very helpful and encouraging as they made the experience more enjoyable We were able to collectively clean up most of the litter in the park and plant around six new trees. We added bark mulch on top of the roots of the trees to keep the soil safe during the cold winter months Although this work was gruelling, it was rewarding as we were able to use our time to help our community
PARENTS GUILD CHRISTMAS BAZAAR
On Saturday 3rd of December, the school fair was held, where there were three stalls set up to raise money for The Log Cabin
The result of the very busy and exciting fair was over £400 raised through the sale of Christmas cards which were designed by students, Christmas themed sweets and also through Christmas themed games The games included Pin the nose on Rudolph, Lucky Dip and a 50p Toss
Many of the Charity reps in the different years volunteered to run these stalls and it was a great experience as well as lots of fun
AGE UK CHOIRS
On Thursday 1st December a group of Sixth Form students attended the Age UK Community Centre in Greenford to perform some Christmas Carols for the elderly people that attend the centre All the 6th formers dressed up in festive clothes and it was clear that this was greatly appreciated by the residents of the centre A few Christmas songs that went down particularly well were Mariah Careys ‘All I want for Christmas is you ’ and ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ with one resident in particular getting involved dancing in the middle It was a very successful performance and one that was enjoyed thoroughly by both us and the residents of the centre
CHRISTMAS JUMPER DAY
Tuesday 13th December will be our annual Christmas jumper day Please wear your festive jumpers for a £2 donation which will go to two charities: Log Cabin or Care 4 Calais Pay £2 cash to your form tutor during registration or via the JustGiving link (Please take a screenshot to show to your tutor)
STUDENTS MAKE CHRISTMAS CARDS
Thank you to all the students in Y7,8,10 and the Junior school who produced beautiful Chriatmas cards to be enjoyed by older people living in the Ealing area 120 cards will go into the hampers produced by Age UK Ealing and the rest have been distributed to Chestnut lodge care home St David’s and Blakesley House where Y10 students sing to the residents on a weekly rotation
YEAR 10 CHARITY EVENTS
This half term, it was the Year 10's opportunity to raise funds for a charity of their choice - Crisis. Crisis supports the thousands of people at the sharp end of poverty who are at risk of being pushed into homelessness Crisis raises money for these people to ensure that they don’t have to make the choice between eating and heating this Christmas Particularly during the cold winter time, it is incredibly important to support those who need it most
Bake Sale:
On the 18th November and 9th December, the year 10 run a series of bake sales raising an impressive total amount of a little over £100 All baked goods sold out within minutes and it was heartwarming to see how much support students and staff showed to the cause!
Candy Canes:
Super reps Millie and Saffy organised a wonderful and very successful candy cane delivery event! The Candy Cane group got so many orders and raised £331, thank you so much! Millie and Saffy can’t thank their amazing team enough, as they helped them make 331 labels The team wishes everyone a great winter holiday
Movie Evening:
On Thursday the 8th of December, Year 10 held a Christmas movie lunch in the main hall, to support their charity Crisis During the event, gingerbread cookies, pizza, drinks and popcorn were sold with £146 45 raised in total Many people came to watch the Grinch and it contributed to the start of Christmas festivities at Notting Hill, thank you to everyone who came and contributed to the fundraising effort!
Christmas Fair:
On Friday the 2nd December the year 10s hosted a Christmas fair to raise money for Crisis. We sold baked goods, hot chocolate, pick ‘ n mix and had a variety of different activities varying from bean bag throw to nail painting and temporary tattoos We sang along to Christmas music bringing together different year groups with the festive atmosphere and managed to raise over £150
DAYS
FOR GIRLS UPDATE!
We received an email recently from Days for Girls who wanted to share feedback with us from ‘For Ethiopia’, one of their partner charities, and a recent recipient of 100+ kits made over the summer Many of the kits contained components generously donated by the NHEHS charity event (especially knickers!), and the cost of postage was covered by the donated funds They write: ‘You should be extremely proud of making such a difference to the lives of girls in the kind of challenging environments we can only imagine’
‘For Ethiopia’ have shared how when the postman delivered the 103 beautiful kits to head office, they had an amazing chat with the postman about the kits He was so impressed, especially when shown one of the packs He sends on his regards too and thinks you are all amazing When members of ‘For Ethiopia’ take the kits out to Ethiopia they train trainers in using the education manual The whole package of resources that accompanies a days for girls kit through the training workshops is such a blessing for this small charity
They work in a rural area of Ethiopia that is roughly the same size of Gloucestershire The majority of girls have no access to anything when they have their periods except using old rags, and as a result they skip school The excitement when they saw the kits and learnt what this would mean for them was clearly evident. Due to suspected low iron levels due to the local diet many girls do experience heavier flows so these kits will be really popular They will be sending the most recent kits out to Ethiopia in the next few weeks and the team on the ground cannot wait to visit further remote village schools to educate and train these inspiring young girls They write ‘Thank you for being a huge part of this ’
We have been contacted by members of the charity Serving our Superheroes’ who seek to support anyone in West London who are in need Many teenage Ukraine refugees are continuing to settle in the west London area however when starting school, they frequently have nothing
We will hopefully be supporting ‘Days for Girls’ again in the summer term Look out for posters advertising the collection nearer the time
AGE UK FOOD COLLECTION
Over the past few weeks we have been collecting food to create Christmas Hampers for Age UK Age UK is the leading charity in the UK for supporting older people We brought in foods such as tinned vegetables, pasta, biscuits and spreads but also other items such as shampoo, scarfs and hats to help support older people during the winter months.
SCHOOL CHRISTMAS CARDS
From Wednesday 12th October to Tues 18th October we will be collecting stationary to be passed onto these students as well as students in schools in Southall and Greenford who are not able to afford these supplies
Once again NHEHS students have beautifully created Christmas cards to be sold for the charity. This year all proceeds will go to the Log Cabin.
Items that being requested are: Pencil cases pens pencils colour pens, pencils, exercise books, crayons, highlighters, rulers, calculators, notebooks, colouring books.
These can be purchased through ParentPat & were also sold at the Parent's guild Christmas Bazaar
Thank you to Naya C in Year 12 and Lisa B in Year 8 for your lovely designs
CARE SQUARES PROJECT
Thank you to all our knitters who have been creating blanket squares for our two chosen charities this winter: Ealing Soup Kitchen and Project 240 The many colourful squares are currently being sewn together and the completed blankets will be distributed by the two charities Here is further information about the work of these charities in the local area:
Ealing Soup Kitchen is a charity that seeks to help anyone who needs hot, nutritious food & a helping hand We’ve been running a weekend Soup Kitchen since 1973 at St John’s Church in Ealing for the homeless, vulnerable and impoverished We also run Monday & Friday drop-ins where we provide clothes, food, a barber, showers, foot care, practical help, and games
The 240 homeless project was an arts and health activity centre for people for people affected by isolation, homelessness and exclusion The project runs a range of creative arts groups and health improving activities The 240 project was established in 1998 to provide support for vulnerable and excluded individuals with a history of homelessness The project initially aimed to support newly-housed members in remaining in their homes, as those who have been homeless often return to the streets
FROM THE ARCHIVES
1956 NHEHS
The Diamond Jubilee of the UNion of Girls’ Schools Social Service made 1956 a particularly exciting year for the Charity Committee The Annual Service was held at the Royal Festival Hall, and H R H Princess Margaret accepted the purses The purses needed to be a specific size and decorated with the school colours When Lynn Blayney offered to have one made, it was made of beautiful white silk with a red monogram and border A fairly large group of girls were brought to the service by Miss Nichols, Miss Jones, and Miss Russell, with Clare Harris presenting the school's donation
GOODBYE FROM THE YEAR 13 CHARITY REPS
Sophie and Niamh’s year as sixth form charity reps has sadly come to an end We are grateful for all their hard work at Charities this year
Being a Charity Representative for the past year has been an extremely rewarding process and one that h h l f k h h
WAYS TO HELP
EALING FOOD BANK
SCHOOL WINTER COLLECTION 2023
In January we will be running a school collection which will be distributed by Ealing Foodbank Soup Kitchen and Care 4 Calais. Over the holiday please start looking for the following items which you can donate:
Warm winter coats- all sizes
Warm jumpers - all sizes
Leggings
Duvets
Laptops for teenage students
KNITTING AND SEWING FOR CHARITY
As well as the school’s blanket squares initiative run by Mrs Duns, here are additional knitting projects you can get involved in, allowing you to volunteer from the comfort of your own home There are patterns for blankets for cats housed by the Cats Protection, warm winter clothing for children in Syria and clothes for premature babies The Donkey sanctuary are also looking for knitted donkeys to sell in their gift shops to raise money See the following two links for more information Saga ideas and UKhandknitting
This year the Ealing food bank have launched a reverse advent calendar with suggestions of what to buy on corresponding days and donate to the food bank To follow this advent calendar and contribute to the food bank you can donate at any of their local donation points, which you can find on their website (for example: St Mellitus Church W7 3BA in Hanwell, from 10am - 12noon)
By following this advent calendar you can contribute to help stop food poverty in Ealing and help with the cost of living crisis, please donate this christmas! Please also see the December shopping list
THE BIG ISSUE
The Big Issue was launched in 1991 to help tackle the homelessness crisis and has been supporting some of the most vulnerable in society ever since Winter is always a hard time for vulnerable people but this year it is worse than ever The drop in footfall on high streets, the rise in energy bills and food costs, and the ongoing fallout from the cost-of-living crisis have made it harder for everyone especially for our vendors Support is vital
“The magazine is a great resource linking to many different aspects of curriculum subjects, from politics, philosophy and religion, art, to sustainability From the Global Citizenship point of view,"
Consider buying a magazine from a Big Issue vendor this winter
Do you have any stories of charity work you have done recently?
Do you have ideas of what you would like us to do as a school?
If so, please let your charity reps know: Sophie Anwar and Niamh Mulligan or Mrs Johnson, Ms Newman and Ms Gamberini
We’d love to share your stories and help you with your ideas!
Thank you for your continued support in all of our charity endeavours!
