Community Action

CCF

The Contingent continues to go from strength to strength and looks very healthy indeed with 150 pupils involved. This, coupled with an excellent training team has allowed us to reach our maximum potential as a Contingent. Interest again in the Contingent has meant we have had to continue with another training afternoon to accommodate the cadets.

The cadets have taken part in various competitions and activities in the past year and thoroughly enjoyed the experience of competing against other schools in the Brigade. Although we came away without any silverware the enthusiasm and determination to progress was evident.

2011 brought new challenges to both the Training Team and the cadets. This has been mainly due to the introduction of the new weapon system. Training and qualifying the cadets to use the new rifle has been both interesting and challenging. There has been a huge improvement to the shooting skills of the cadets which have been evident with the results that have been achieved.

The highlight for the cadet's training year is Annual Camp. This year we were lucky enough to visit Cyprus and train in a different climate and make full use of the island's facilities. Our thanks go to the RAF hosts who sponsored us at RAF Akrotiri.

The RAF Section has progressed quite nicely due to the commitment of the cadets and the staff. This has been evident in the amount of Air Experience Flying and Gliding that the cadets have undertaken in the past year.

Eleven RAF cadets went to camp this year which was held at RAF Leuchers and all came back with warm stories and experiencies.

However, like any other organisation we have to say farewell to a number of our senior cadets who are leaving for pastures new. Our good wishes go with Olivia Diggory, Tom Whitaker, Tim Darmody, Josh Burley, Tom Fynn, Freddie Gabbertas, Freddie Proctor, Callum Hernaman, Ellys Lockitt, Vincent Nadin, Daisy Noble and Alex Ward. We wish them well in their future endeavours as they have all left their mark on the Contingent.

Finally my thanks must go to the training team. Cath Hempsall, Lorraine Underwood, Libby Ullstein, Paul Hynard and Shaun Price.

They work very hard to make sure the cadets enjoy their training.

NECASPERATERRENT

S. Howman Major Contingent Commander.

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Community Action

This year seems to have been the year of the party in Community Action; Christmas, Guide Dogs, The Island and Wilberforce have all been celebrated in one way or another mostly by tea parties.

Our work with the Island charity has continued this year and we were delighted to hear that it had been made one of the school charities in September. The popular cookery sessions run by Julie Bainbridge have been well attended by both members of the Island and school pupils with some of the sessions themed to the time of year; Thanksgiving, pancake day etc. We also hosted a very enjoyable Island Christmas party, organised by fifth form pupils who decorated the Shepherd Hall, designed and made party games and presented a topical quiz.

The Monday group was very well supported this year by pupils from all year groups and all our annual events have been successfully organised by some enthusiastic workers who, in true 'Blue Peter' fashion decorated Christmas parcels which were distributed by the Minster Lions, made table decorations for the Tea Dances in October and March, party bags for the Christmas party and wrapped hundreds of rolos, love hearts and roses for the Valentine's Appeal. This year the team also made some heart-shaped biscuits which were sold on the day and helped boost the funds. The Christmas Party was attended by 80+ local residents who enjoyed music from the Chamber Choir, the Swing Band and the Barber Shop singers. Mr Spencer accompanied the singing much to the delight of the guests; David has been a great supporter of community action this year, providing the music for many of our events. We really value his help and the time he gives

up to do this. Thanks also to Mr Paul Miles-Kingston organising the singers ai not forgetting Mr Chris Hall who once again charmed the guests with his expert bingo calling! ^H As well as entertaining; visitors from the local I community the Monday I Group has also had a good year for fundraising. The Macmillan Coffee morning raised £280 and the Valentine's Appeal raised £300 which was donated, as usual to the Arclight Shelter in York. Of course Friday 18th March was Red Nose Day and this resulted in the usual display of fantastic Fancy Dress costumes throughout the school with a competition in the Memorial Hall at lunchtime. Although there was some surprising reluctance from Peterites to walk down the cat walk there were several worthy winners not least of which were the staff group - The Manor Pirates'. The funds raised from

Following on from the 3rd form volunteering taster day in July 2010 we were very pleased that a group of five 5th form girls were involved in the Community Football Competition at York City Football Club. As part of their Duke of Edinburgh award service section the girls helped to organise the publicity and some of the fundraising for the competition as well as helping out on semifinal and final day at Bootham Crescent.

The Tea Dances have continued very successfully this year and

the fancy dress along with a cake stall, raffle and Richard Berridge's hair straightening (!) totalled nearly £1000 which was sent to the Comic Relief Appeal.

On the school campus we have also maintained our essential connections with CPPS, St Olave's and Acorn Nursery with over 50 pupils volunteering to help with a wide variety of activities ranging from listening to individual readers to helping with sports sessions. Our pupils gain a huge amount of experience through this type of volunteering and we are very grateful to the members of staff who make it possible.

thanks must go to the dancing skills of Mr Edwards without whom these events could not go ahead. The cooperation between the elderly visitors and our pupils is a privilege to observe and we hope to extend invitations further afield for the next event in October. In April we were pleased to hear that the Lollipop Charity had been awarded a substantial amount of funding from the National Lottery and several pupils from the 4th and L6 helped them celebrate their success at Creepie Crawlies in Wigginton.

shops have been maintained this year but sadly PHAB decided that this will be their final year so it was decided to finish on a high note with a farewell party in the Shepherd Hall in July. Many of our pupils have enjoyed volunteering with PHAB over the years and some of them were able to attend the party and meet up with old friends. Many thanks to Elaine Sellwood who has run this group for many years and given our volunteers a very rewarding experience.

In June we were pleased to renew our work with the Guide Dogs for the Blind and Hearing Dogs for the Deaf by hosting a tea party for their 80th anniversary. There was no shortage of 3rd and 4th form girls who were very happy to help serve the tea, and of course, look after the dogs and puppies.

The Wilberforce Trust residential homes have always been wonderful places for our volunteers to gain real experience of working with people coping with disabilities. We were delighted in July to welcome some of the residents into school for a tea party, organised by Mary Bollands, along with the staff from the homes. Mary also worked very hard to organise a raffle with some excellent prizes which raised over £100 for the Trust.

Barbara Kendall who worked for the Trust and coordinated all their volunteers retired in March 2010 and it was with very great sadness that we learned of her death in April this year. She worked tirelessly for our volunteers and she will be sadly missed as both a

colleague and friend.

Outdoors our efforts have continued at the Island allotment and also during the 5th form Community Action Project week. This year in conjunction with BTCV and Natural England we worked on two projects; at the Lower Derwent Valley Nature Reserve and also at St Barnabas' primary school in York. The weather was • kind to us yet again -1 only one day of heavy showers and the tasks I were many and varied throughout the whole week ranging from boardwalk construction, painting and varnishing outdoor decorative leaves, fencing, creating a sensory maze at the primary school and a ^jjateHwrnt sensory garden at the 1 nature reserve and the surprising popular winner a day of ragwort pulling at | North Duffield Ings!!

We had an excellent team of 5th form pupils who worked together as a brilliant team and we are very grateful to Craig Halston and his team from Natural England and Rachel Earnshaw and her team from BTCV who helped to organise the week.

With over 120 volunteers both on and off site this year it is impossible to include everyone by name, but there are two volunteers who deserve a special mention; community action prize winners Mary Bollands and Sophie Jones who have given their time to organise and help with many events. They thoroughly deserve their prizes and I hope that other volunteers will be inspired by their dedication.

The Community Action Staff team has continued to evolve; Ella Mallard and Jo Lunardi left us at Christmas but have produced two healthy new potential volunteers - Oscar and Isabella - both of whom have already put in an appearance at one of the Tea Dances! We have gained Libby Ullstein whose organisational talents have been put to good use and of course thanks must also go to Ailsa Huysamen, MareikeWesselink and particularly to Sarah Morgan whose support and sense of humour always helps to keep me sane at times of greatest stress!

Mrs J Dawson