Students at St Helen and St Katharine, a girls school in Abingdon, have raised £9946 in aid of Aspire – an Oxfordshire-based charity dedicated to supporting local people facing homelessness, poverty and disadvantage.
The impressive amount has been raised through a range of creative events and activities – these are organised by charity reps and all students from Year 5 through to Sixth Form take part. This year, fundraising activities have included everything from quiz nights, bake sales and a lolly stand at Sports Day, to a highly competitive ‘2p race’ at the School’s annual founders’ celebration, St Kate’s Day. During the race, students were set the challenge of arranging their coins into rows of houses to recognise Aspire’s important work.
A particular highlight was a charity play that saw teachers – including the Headmistress – star in a special, comical rendition of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves written by two Lower Sixth students.
The much-anticipated Christmas Gift Fair, organised by the school’s Parents Association, was also a huge success with lots of enterprising, student stalls raising a significant amount for Aspire too.
Aspire CEO Paul Roberts, who has visited the school to talk to students about the charity’s work, said: “We are absolutely blown away by the spirit of enterprise, generosity and kindness demonstrated by the students at St Helen and St Katharine with this incredible fundraising success. The donation will contribute towards our ‘Action Inspires Hope’ appeal to enable us to step up our emergency response to rising homelessness in communities across Oxfordshire. Thank you!”
At the start of each year, the whole school community votes to select the annual school charity. The charity reps said: “Students from across the school voted for Aspire as they recognised the impact that the cost-of-living crisis has across the county and they wished to support those who needed help with housing and training to get into work.”
Find out more about the charity:
