Charities
"King Edward’s strives to enable students to become role models and to take on responsibilities contributing to the School and local community"
Fundraising for charities, raising awareness of local initiatives and supporting our local community is truly a whole community approach at King Edward’s. Yet our pupils are at the heart of driving action, ideas and change.
Our charities commission is made up of over 100 students from First Year to Sixth Form and these are the students responsible for encouraging entire school involvement.
A typical academic year might consist of the activities listed below:
- Break and lunchtime themed sales
- Non-school uniform days
- First Year Toy Appeal Fun Run
- Awareness stalls and seasonal stalls
- Sports competitions and tournaments
- KES Aid – Staff and student collaboration projects
- Sal’s Shoe Collection
- Poppy Selling
- Christmas Jumper Day for Save the Children
- PDSA Odd Socks Day
- Staff versus student events for example. University Challenge
- Summer Camp’s Battle of the Bands
- PDSA Barn dance
- Emergency relief fundraisers
- Collections for refugees
Expand the sections below to read about past charity projects, our partners and our students impressive fundraising results.
Local Charities and Organisations
We work with a number of local and national charities. In the Autumn Term of 2021 the Charities Commission managed to raise over £1000 for Stonewall and Show Racism the Red Card. The Upper School and Sixth Form Commission were determined to ensure that these issues were not forgotten. At this point the KES Awareness boards in the crush hall were created. These boards are regularly filled with articles and QR codes linked to charities and petitions. These posters were created by members of the Upper School Charities Commission. It is essential that students at KES feel empowered to discuss difficult issues and have a platform to encourage others in the community to do the same.
During the same term there were smaller charity events held in aid of Breast Cancer Awareness. The Lower School Charities Commission managed to raise over £170. In November, the Commission raised over £350 for the Royal British Legion by Poppy Selling and RBL stationary. Additionally, for International Men's Day the Sixth Form hosted a gingerbread sale and raised over £200 for Prostate Cancer UK.
In the lead up to Christmas, the Commission were hard at work selling advent calendars and delivering candy canes to their fellow students around the school. Their persistence and hard work ensured they raised over £1000 for the Society of St. James. Additionally, the school raised £530 for Save the Children by wearing festive jumpers during the last week of term.
Charitable Collections
One of the highlights for Charities in 2022 would have to be the whole school collection for the Ukrainian refugee crisis. It was incredible watching all members of the school community working together to sort and fill over 300 boxes of donations ready to ship to those in need. The commission managed to organise and took charge of the whole process by giving up lunchtimes and breaks to continue sorting through the enormous and ever growing pile of donations.
Shortly after the Sixth Form Commission wished to highlight and present awareness of period poverty in our local community. They decided to collect sanitary items for Homeless Period Southampton who distributed our donations to local charities and soup kitchens who were extremely appreciative.
First Year Toy Appeal
Each year, our First Year pupils take to the school’s field in an array of fun toy-inspired costumes for a fun run. This is such a fun event enjoyed by the whole-school and has been a great way for us to raise money. Over the years we’ve seen a number of notable characters including Woody, minions and Rubik’s cubes running in a flamboyant manner around the school field.
Last year the School worked with Toys of Ringwood, who exchanged the money raised for toys that we were able to donate to the Scratch charity in Southampton. The toys were distributed by the charity to families in need over the Christmas period. First Years raised a whopping £2,700 in October 2021.
Sixth Form Charity Projects
At KES we have three Sixth Form Charitable opportunities available for our students.
Summer Camp – This involves a group of 16 Sixth Form students that regularly meet with the young carers from No Limits Southampton and run an activity camp for them in the Summer.
PDSA – This involves a group of 20 Sixth Form students that regularly meet with members of the Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association. They run fun events and hold a series of activity days over the summer holidays.
Sholing Partnerships – This involves a group of 10 Sixth Form students who regularly meet with students from Sholing Junior School and run educational and fun filled activities during the summer holidays.
This academic year the Sixth Form Charity Projects have been in full swing. Summer Camp have raised money through a series of bake sales and are currently preparing for their time away with the young carers from No Limits this Summer. PDSA have hosted a series of events for the children from Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association, a particular highlight was the barn dance in March. Sholing Partnerships Team have also raised significant money for their activity days at KES PTA Quiz night.
Charity Partners
The School has a number of partners who we work with, and have worked with, over a long period of time. This has allowed us to get to know each other and discover how we can best support our partners through our activities and events.
- PDSA – Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association
- Sholing Junior School
- No Limits Southampton
- Southampton Children’s Hospital
- Homeless Period Southampton
- The School also has ongoing partnerships with local care homes, and students annually send cards and well wishes to residents during the festive period.
