Charity Fundraising
Kirsten Sabine - Angels - visited year 8 and led this week's assembly for the year group. Angels is our local link charity. They support local families of children with ASD, ADHD and other neurodiverse conditions. Angels offer 1-2-1 support in person for children and their families in Stevenage and Letchworth. They also offer support online across the country, with more than 3,000 families subscribed to their services, which are completely free. They also have a series of podcasts - Neurodiversity chats - available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. In the photo, our Year Reps and Form Reps hand Kirsten a cheque for £521, which helped 12 families in Stevenage through their 1-2-1 support programme. Year 8 will hold their next fundraiser before the Easter break! https://angelssupportgroup.org.uk/
We have a long established tradition of helping those in need, whether through the Family Fast Day economy lunch or through a vast array of fundraising activities for different causes throughout the year. Students use all their talent, humour, ingenuity and business acumen to raise lots of money and have a huge amount of fun, whilst at the same time reminding ourselves we are all part of a local, national and international community, often with genuine needs to be met.
Our charity fundraising efforts have supported many local, national and international causes over the year. As a community, we understand just how privileged we are, and recognise the Gospel call to serve others.
Our fundraising has supported:
Autumn 1:
- CAFOD Harvest Fast Day
- Macmillan Coffee morning (staff fundraiser)
- Harvest collection for FUWU (whole school appeal with year group collections organised by Chaplaincy)
Autumn 2:
- Poppy appeal
- Movember
- Year Group fundraising for Herts Young Homeless (organised by Year 11)
- Advent Appeal for Disadvantaged (whole school appeal with year group collections organised by Chaplaincy)
Spring 1:
- Year Group fundraising for Happy Days (organised by Sixth Form)
- KiSS (whole school fundraising organised by Student Leadership Team)
Spring 2:
- Year Group fundraising for Angels (organised by Year 8)
Summer 1:
- Year Group fundraising for Garden House Hospice (organised by Year 10)
- Year Group fundraising for EHAA (Year 7 Disco organised by Year 7)
Summer 2:
- Year Group fundraising for Herts Supports Refugees (organised by Year 9)
- Lourdes Fundraising (whole school fundraising organised by Sixth Form RedCaps)
KISS (Kiddies Support Scheme)
We have forged extremely strong links with the Kiddies Support Scheme Charity (KiSS) since 1994. In the 30 years that the SJHN community has supported KiSS we have raised in excess of £350,000. The money raised for KiSS supports vulnerable children and their families in Uganda by allowing them access education and healthcare. KiSS not only supports these children financially, they also create communities where kids can be kids, and where members of the community support each other through a programme of afterschool, weekend and holiday activities for children, their parents and members of the wider community. As a school we have also had the enormous privilege of hosting some of those who have been supported by KISS in Uganda.
The School enjoys a very close relationship with the charity in Uganda, Mr Matthew, our former headteacher, said that 'if you don’t know KiSS then you don’t know SJHN'. Each year our Student Leadership team work tirelessly to raise funds for KiSS, organising events such as the staff panto, gym and dance display and, of course, KiSS week. These events not only raise astonishing amounts of money but they also strengthen the community within the school and build on our ethos to support those less fortunate than us.
Prior to the Covid-19 outbreak a number of SJHN students spent time in the KiSS communities. For many years, the Student Leadership team visited the community in Hoima and Kasambya at Christmas. Groups of students have also been to participate in the KICA programme, helping with building and agricultural projects and to learn about what KiSS does and how the charity impacts so many lives. We have seen three Music Missions to Uganda. Our students taught music in Hoima and led music making activities in schools and at the Hoima cathedral. The groups then moved on to Kasambya, to tour the music that had been taught. We hope to send more SJHN students out to Uganda in the near future, and several members of former Student Leadership teams will return to Hoima and Kasambya in the summer of 2024.
All of the money raised by SJHN students and their families goes directly to Uganda, to support the communities KiSS works with. It is vital paying for school fees, meals and equipment. It is also used to fund the education of more vulnerable members of the communities who often require specialist schools which are only available in major urban areas. KiSS employs a small staff in Uganda who undertake vital pastoral work within the community.
Two of the current trustees of KiSS are former pupils of this school which is testament to the incredible impact that the work of the charity has on the lives of our students. To learn more about the work that KiSS is doing with children and their families in Uganda please visit www.kiddiessupportscheme.org
