Charity Fundraising

Fundraising during a pandemic has been challenging, but it has been possible! As a school, we have held several successful events, and raised money for local, national and international causes.

Through charity fundraising, our community of pupils, parents and staff works together to support others. The pupils, staff and parents have all contributed ideas, time and money, to help those less fortunate than we are.

We look forward to the next academic year, the return of the Christmas Bazaar and the Fete, and all the fun that charity fundraising brings!

Mrs Anstey-Watson, Charity Coordinator

Macmillan Virtual Coffee Morning

In September, the Friends of Junior King’s kicked off our charity fundraising for the year with a challenge: how to host their usual Macmillan Cancer Support World’s Biggest Coffee Morning event during a pandemic. As always, the Friends proved equal to the challenge! Parents were able to order delicious baked goods and Junior King’s apple and pear juice online from the comfort of their homes. Orders were beautifully packaged and then brought home by the children after school the night before the event so that their parents could enjoy their purchases remotely. In addition to this, an online auction was also held for a beautiful autumnal showstopper, made by a very talented parent. The winner of the auction kindly donated this to the staff, who were able to enjoy some socially distanced slices with their break time coffee. In school, on the day itself, pupils also enjoyed some enormous cupcakes made by our talented catering team at morning break, in exchange for £1. In total, a phenomenal £1,913.90 was raised. Thank you to everyone who baked, packaged, bought and ate! In September, the MFL department donated 500 textbooks to a charity supporting schools in Africa.

Children in Need

£2,375.07 raiSed

In November, pupils threw themselves into raising money for Children in Need with a series of activities in their year group bubbles. PrePrep went all out, as usual, wearing polka-dotted clothes and enjoying creative activities such as producing Pudsey artwork and decorating special Pudsey biscuits. Junior House got hygge after lessons with a pyjama party and received their own personalised Pudsey calendars, while Middle School broke a sweat with sponsored circuits, accompanied by the Junior House boombox. Finally, Upper School had their very own Pudsey (or Beetle) Drive and an adrenalinefilled duck race on the river, with prizes for the winners (pictured opposite). Always a highlight of the Autumn Term, this year’s Children in Need activities felt just a little bit extra special. Undertaken in year group bubbles and occurring during the second national lockdown, the separate fundraising activities acted as a uniting force as we worked towards a common, charitable goal.

BookTrust Christmas Appeal

On the last two days of term before the Christmas holidays, well before we knew most of our Lent Term would be conducted remotely, we came to school in our very best Christmas jumpers in aid of the BookTrust’s Christmas appeal, which raises money to gift books to children who are vulnerable or in care at Christmastime.

Looking fetching in our winter woolies, we enjoyed a special video put together by the prefects, in which they read some very amusing storybooks. We also took part in all kinds of special Christmassy activities in our year group bubbles, from drinking hot chocolate and making Christingles to house quizzes, carol singing and biscuit decorating!

Comic Relief

Junior House Jumble Sale Upper School Fundraising Challenge

Comic Relief gave us our first chance to raise money together as a community on our return to school in the last three weeks of the Lent Term. We wore our own clothes with a splash of red for this worthy cause, and had a special virtual assembly about the work that Comic Relief does, courtesy of Mrs Anstey-Watson. It was wonderful to be able to donate our total of £808.20 to this brilliant cause.

In May, Junior House held a fabulous jumble sale, in the spirit of reducing waste, to raise funds for WWF and Surfers Against Sewage. It was wonderful to see pre-loved books, toys and games going to excited new owners where they will have a second life. They managed to raise a wonderful £326. Back at school at the end of the Lent Term over the weekend of 20-21 March, Years 7 and 8 undertook a monumental fundraising challenge in aid of Cancer Research UK, completing a remote variation on the London Marathon together. The aim was to collectively travel from Junior King’s to London (63.9 miles), run the Marathon (26.2 miles) and return to Sturry again (63.9 miles). With the two year groups together and a total of 137 pupils, the aim was to complete the whole journey twice with the total distance of 308 miles covered if each pupil were to get an average of 2.2 miles under their belts. Covering the distance in a variety of different ways, the pupils recorded their times via an electronic movement tracker so that the miles could be totted up. Together, Upper School travelled a tremendous 364.81 miles, smashing their 308-mile target, and raised a whopping £1,559! This was a marvellous opportunity to do something together without geographic location being an impediment. With a number of our pupils still overseas at this point in the year and unable to physically be in school with their classmates, this fundraiser served as something to do as a community to bring everyone together for a greater purpose. Well done, Upper School!