Giving Day
Our inaugural Giving Day was a celebration of community spirit, raising significant funds for our 150th Anniversary Campaign.
The spring term ended with 36 hours of intense activity across the Junior and Senior School, with pupils, parents, alumnae, staff and friends all galvanised to play their part in fundraising for some key projects: our charitable partnership organisations; our bursary programme; and our community wellbeing initiatives. Ahead of Giving Day, the community had already pledged well over £1 million, so the aim was to secure a further £250,000 to enable us to appoint a contractor for the wellbeing projects and start work on the roof terrace and gym this summer.
The Junior School embraced the excitement by taking on 150 different challenges, all suggested by the girls: our very youngest pupils tackled a new task every hour, from 150 skips to 150 seconds of dancing and singing; pupils planted 150 bulbs and seeds just in time to welcome spring; and Year 6 staged two brilliant performances of Rapunzel and the Barbershop Bros. Our Junior School Head had committed to donning a special outfit if 30 Junior School parents donated to the cause, so it was a joy to behold Mrs Paramour as a penguin on the last day of term.
The Senior School community joined the fun too. Mrs Paul (and lots of staff and students) pedalled with great gusto as part of the continuous cycle challenge; teachers bravely volunteered to get dunked in cold water for every 10 donations received; our Campaign Club pupils sold a lot penguin-shaped biscuits; the girls were treated to a surprise staff-led flash mob karaoke during final assembly; and our Rock Band provided an uplifting soundtrack to the day.
We are hugely grateful for the energy, enthusiasm and generosity of everyone who got involved, whether undertaking challenges, offering matched funding, writing messages of support on the donor wall, or contributing to the projects – all donations, however big or small, are still welcome here. Thank you so much for making it a Giving Day to remember.