Supporting Others At Christmas

Christmas at St Faith’s is not just about receiving gifts, it’s also about the importance of giving. We support charities throughout the year, but this Christmas the generosity of our school community was truly wonderful.

Our magical Christingle Service not only delivered some special moments and memories for our younger children and their families, it also raised £259.45 which goes in its entirety to the Children’s Society.

The four school houses (Oak, Ash, Beech & Sycamore) also raise money for their chosen charities throughout the year, and as part of this the children ran a variety of exciting stalls at the Christmas Fair. Between the houses they have raised a total of £227.81 so far – watch this space for an update on their fundraising efforts next term.

This was the second year that we have asked for donations of gifts for children to give to the Salvation Army, but we were unprepared for the deluge of Lego, craft activities, books, cuddly toys, Playmobil and more. With Mrs Bourne barely able to get to her desk past the heaps of gifts under the Christmas Tree, at the end of term it was time for some of our Year 6 pupils to help organise it all, ready for Mrs Coombs to deliver it to the Salvation Army Canterbury branch.

Having failed to adequately convey quite how many donations there were, their representative’s eyes nearly fell out of his head at sight of them all! These gifts were given to families who were struggling this Christmas, and resulted in some very happy children on Christmas Day. A huge thank you from them and from us for the kindness and generosity of our St Faith’s families.

On the last day of term, Christmas Jumper Day saw an array of weird and wonderful festive jumpers (and two head-to-toe elves thanks to Mr MacKenzie and Miss Johnson). As part of Christmas Jumper Day it was also time for party lunch, which was….well, it was a party! The music was on, the packed lunches were eaten (with regular breaks to belt out Christmas songs), and the Upper School wrapped up festivities with a Conga around the dining hall, from which no one was safe – office staff, kitchen staff, teachers and Headmaster all made their way around the hall singing at top volume. 

There’s more to Christmas Jumper Day than sparkly jumpers and a lively Conga though – it’s also an opportunity for us to raise much needed funds for Save The Children. The children all arrived at school clutching their £1 coins, and we raised £187.95 in total.

What a great start to our fundraising and charitable giving for this academic year, with more to come in 2023.