This year our chosen charity of the year is Evelina London Children's Hospital, which fundraises for life-saving equipment and research, through to the little comforts that make a child's visit to hospital less scary.   Our fundraising started with the collection at the Carol Service but really kicked off in earnest with the Charity Fair in February.  We were very proud of our pupils for their wonderful efforts in planning their own stalls and also for supporting each other with such enthusiasm.  They raised a whopping £1077 which is a wonderful achievement, and brought the total raised this year so far to £2000.

 The fundraising team at Evelina were very impressed with their efforts and commented, "What a superb achievement in an afternoon! Well done to all students involved in fundraising for Evelina. Hope you feel very proud of yourselves. A fabulous example of fundraising BY children, FOR children. This is true learning & life skills WAY beyond the curriculum."

Following the Charity Fair, Mrs Tait accompanied three Year 8 pupils on a very special visit to Evelina London Children’s Hospital. They were invited to spend a day in the clinic shadowing a young patient so that they could see the work of the hospital at first hand and gain a real understanding of what we’re fundraising for.  The pupils were asked to consider what makes the Evelina such a special place and engaged very thoughtfully with the whole process, giving careful consideration to their answers and questions.  They were also lucky enough to spend some time with the consultants, including Dr Aaron Bell, the Evelina’s Head of Service for Paediatric Cardiology, who talked them through every aspect of the process.

It was an incredible day for the pupils and they held a special assembly a few days later to share their experience with the rest of the school.  It was wonderful to have this opportunity to give added meaning to the fundraising efforts.  We had planned several events for the summer term and are really keen to keep the fundraising going so are considering ideas to make this happen.