Charity Action at Ripley at Christmas
It was a hive of activity in school during December with charity fundraising at the forefront across all year groups.
Sixth Form Fundraising
Our Sixth Form students were very busy raising funds and collecting items for Lancaster District Homeless Action and the Salvation Army Toy Appeal. Sarah-Jane and Kaitlyn smashed the total from last year of 80 toys, by collecting 115 presents for girls and boys who became happy little souls on Christmas day – well done!!
“I honestly can’t thank you enough girls! A big shout out to Sarah-Jane and Kaitlyn you’ve smashed it out of the water again girls, thank you very much for all your help, time and patience and a thank you to the Dad who dropped them all off at the shop.”
Salvation Army staff member, facebook post
Total monies raised for LDHAS came from Mrs Price’s amazing skydive, the Festive Pets competition and special Sixth Form mufti day, cake bakes and raffles. The total raised amounted to £821.40 which was then matched by the Aviva Community Fund to an amazing £1642.80!
A huge thank you to the Student Leadership Team for organising the events and collections/drop off (see photo) of warm clothing donations for LDHAS, and to Sarah-Jane and Kaitlyn for organising the toy appeal.
It didn’t end there. On Friday 13 December, we held a Festive non-uniform day for all year groups and staff, for £2 donations where all monies collected went to Save the Children raised a fabulous total of £1964.84!
Reverse Advent calendars
We had a lovely response to our Year 7 charitable actions who took part in the Olive Branch Food Bank Reverse Advent Calendar Challenge, donating goods for those in need.
“We want to say a huge thank you to the Year 7’s at Ripley St Thomas for taking on the challenge of our reverse advent calendar and building a wonderful collection of items for The Olive Branch.”
Olive Branch Food Bank, facebook post
On the topic of advent calendars, earlier in December, we were thrilled that so many of you donated to the calendar collection for CancerCare North Lancashire and South Cumbria, initiated by one very caring pupil in 9Stuart.
Final Week of Fundraising
The School Council and Senior Team did a super job in organising events over the final week of term for 2024.
School Council and House Captains had been leading on a Skill Challenge fundraising activity on the astroturf at lunchtime on the 16th December.
At the end of the school day on Tuesday 17 December, the vision of hundreds of little reindeers running through the school grounds raising funds for the St Johns Hospice Reindeer Rush, was a sight to behold. We have to say a massive well done to Gigi in Year 7, who raised £96 on her own!. The total raised for Reindeer Rush was £406.25!
Throughout the week, we also supported a number of raffles and also held Film Afternoons on Monday and Tuesday for Years 7 and 8. Pupils brought their own snacks but made a £1 contribution for St Johns Hospice (Y7) and CancerCare (Y8 – £274).
Wednesday 18th December was a highlight day for our Christmas Market in the main school hall at lunchtime. There were stalls selling hot chocolate, cakes and sweets, holding competitions, a Christmas card post box, a super raffle that included GHD straighteners and a Gaming Headset and Christmas music/karaoke/jazz band playing, which was delightful and really lifted everyone’s mood in preparation for the holidays.
The winners of the raffle were: GHD Straighteners – Talia Y11 and Gaming Headset – Noah Y7 and the closest guess for the correct number of sweets in the jar was Isabelle in Y7.
Final TOTALS!
Overall totals raised and for which charities were:
LDHAS – Sixth Form £1642.80
St Johns Hospice Christmas events £1018.47
Reindeer Rush £ 406.25
Cancercare £ 274.00
Save the Children £1964.84
+ 115 toy donations to the Salvation Army Toy Appeal
+ hundreds of donations from Year 7 to the Olive Branch Food Bank Reverse Advent Calendar Challenge
+ 73 advent calendars to CancerCare
To all of you who participated, helped, or donated in any way – think of all those people for whom life might be made just a little bit easier by your kindness and generosity – well done all of you. It becomes easy to forget what Christmas is all about, however we hope that the actions of our pupils who have demonstrated our school value of service, through shining a spotlight and fundraising for such worthy charities, goes some way to keeping the Christmas message alive.