Dear Parents
Putting others before yourself is an admirable quality and is something the children at the Prep School have had at the forefront of their minds this week.
Members of our School Council were invited to visit St Michael’s Hospice in St Leonards on Tuesday morning, as the Prep School raised a great deal of money for this local Charity just before Christmas. They met Amanda, Head of Fundraising, who thanked the children on behalf of the Hospice for the School’s fundraising efforts and explained how important all fundraising was to them. The School Representatives were introduced to some of the day patients and the children were interested to see how they are looked after; one lady was having a soothing hand massage. The children were amazed by the beautiful stained glass windows which depicted fishing scenes from the local Hastings beach. During their refreshment break Amanda answered all their questions and they discovered the total cost of keeping the Hospice open for a year and how much fundraising they have to do to care for their patients. The children were then introduced to Geoff the Chaplain who took them through the beautiful gardens to visit St Augustine’s Chapel. Here they learnt about the history of the Hospice and found out that it had once been a convent. The children appreciated the beauty and stillness of the chapel and were eager to ask questions about how it was used by the patients at the Hospice. It was then back to School for the children to tell the rest of the School about what they had learnt during their visit.
Charity work is a vital part of making children good citizens at the Prep School. On Monday Meg an Ambassador from the Send a Cow charity came to speak to the children in Assembly. Send a Cow is a charity which provides livestock and training in sustainable farming to very poor families in African countries, including AIDS orphans, children affected by war and disabled people. Each family receives training that equips them to care for their animals and make the most of them, bringing a better income and improving the productivity of their land. In addition, each family agrees to pass on the animals’ first female offspring to another poor family, who will benefit and then do the same in their turn. So, by taking part in the scheme our children will be helping to provide a gift that will multiply into the future.
Every Prep School child is taking part in a sponsored swim this year to raise money for both Send a Cow and The Swimathon Foundation charity which is Marie Curie Cancer Care. Throughout this term we are using our swimming sessions to improve the children’s swimming ability and develop their technique. They had their initial distances measured at the beginning of this term and they will be building up to a final session where they will be challenged to swim further! Every child will receive a swimming cap and certificate from School Swimathon for taking part.
The children have certainly been thinking about those less fortunate than themselves and how they can help. Many thanks for your continued support with our fundraising events and do please encourage your child to get some sponsors for our sponsored swim. We are hoping to beat last year’s total!
Best wishes.
Maria Maslin
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