CHARITY

Canonaid collections

It was a busy year for Canonaid, the School’s Charity Committee, with representatives from each year group offering opportunities across the School to get involved in fundraising.

In the Autumn term, Canonaid voted to fundraise for Refuge, which supports women and children experiencing domestic violence. Tuesday morning collections continued, and student societies had the opportunity to use these to fundraise for a charity of their choice. During Black History Month, the collection was donated to Black Cultural Archives. Other initiatives included a Harvest collection, two ‘wear your own clothes’ days and the collection of sanitary items to support members of our local community experiencing period poverty.

Food bank The Year 10 Canonaid committee hosted the NLCS Houses of Games 2.0. virtual quiz. From the comfort of their sofas, students, teachers, and their families answered ridiculous quiz rounds. The event was a great success and raised £350 for The Childhood Trust.

We were all shocked by the horrific events in India due to the Covid-19 crisis, and in response, a group of Year 10 students organised a charity event called ‘Teacher Two Truths One Lie’, raising £1,000. One of our wonderful ONLs, Shalni Arora (1989), Treasurer of British Asian Trust, kindly matched the donation, increasing our total donation to £2,000.

Students raised over £500 during the Canonaid Mixathon, inviting them to participate in running, step, or reading challenges over three weeks. The Year 7 Charity Committee worked to promote a food collection for World Hunger Day. We also welcomed ONL Tiara Ataii (2015), founder of SolidariTee, a student-led charity raising awareness of the refugee crisis and offering grants to organisations and individuals, which she set up during her first year studying at Cambridge. In the Summer term, Canonaid raised money for The Community Heartbeat Trust to support the funding of a defibrillator in our neighbouring Canons Park. Other initiatives included selling homemade bracelets, a red-themed ‘wear your own clothes’ day, lunch-time games and the annual Fantasy Fashion event. In addition, we launched a special appeal together with The Karenni Student Development Programme (KSDP) to support the Karenni people. In February, the Army generals in Burma/Myanmar staged a military coup, running the country with extreme brutality and destroying homes, medical centres and churches, killing many innocent villagers. Thanks to the generous donations from our School community, we were able to support the charity to purchase emergency items such as tarpaulin sheets for families to shelter from the monsoon rains; medicines to help stave off the many diseases that jungle living brings, and food, mostly basic rice and dried vegetables.

Harvest Collection Danceathon

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Covid-19 and the national lockdown inevitably meant that we could no longer get out into the Community physically. However, that didn’t mean that our charitable work slowed down. While unable to visit in person, the students maintained regular contact with the care homes, Knights Court, Henry Nihill, Sydmar Lodge and Livability Edgware and Harrow. We could not host the annual Community Christmas Party, but all classes had the opportunity to contribute one gift to a resident at a care home. Additionally, during afternoon activities, students could meet to create a handmade gift for a resident.

The students created ‘Community Service Log Books’ to record their volunteering achievements during the academic year. Activities ranged from assisting in online shopping, helping a neighbour each week with sweeping leaves, gardening, or collecting groceries for a homebound person. FANTASY FASHION