As part of our ongoing Charities and Communities initiative, Senior School students have this term participated in a whole host of activities to give back to the community. Read on to find out all the wonderful things that we have been up to.

Harvest Festival & The Jericho Road Project 

In the run-up to October half term, Senior School students enthusiastically supported a Harvest Festival collection of food, toiletries and sanitary products on behalf of The Jericho Road Project, which runs a drop-in hot meal service and foodbank for the local homeless community and those that are struggling to access main foodbank providers. The Project also employs specialists to provide advice on homelessness, completing forms and benefits, as well as a visiting dentist and hairdresser.   

In a lovely letter of thanks, Judith Williams, project manager, said, “A heartfelt thank you to Blackheath High School for your very generous donation to The Jericho Road Project. We really appreciate all the hard work and generosity that has gone into making this happen. A fantastic team of over 50 volunteers make the Project happen and offer a warm and friendly place to go – a role that is particularly rewarding when volunteers see people return to tell them how they are doing and see them start their journey out of homelessness. All the work we do benefits from your support; our volunteers are encouraged by your kindness and thoughtfulness, and the people benefitting directly are released from worry and concern.” 

Year 6 Sienna canvasses donations for Clockhouse Community Centre 

In the lead up to Christmas, we received a lovely heartfelt thank you from the Clockhouse Community Centre in Woolwich for Sienna in Year 6. Young philanthropist Sienna has worked incredibly hard over the last few months to canvas donations for the charity, including holding a preloved sale of some of her old toys and bundling up others to donate to vulnerable children who live near the community centre. 

Ginny’s giant annual Christmas chocolate trolley! 

Huge congratulations to Ginny from Year 8 for another fabulous Christmas fundraising effort on behalf of the Evelyn Community Foodbank. Every year Ginny collects donations to buy advent calendars and selection boxes for Greenwich Food Bank and the Evelyn Community Foodbank, which work hard to help children and families living in poverty in Deptford and to making their Christmas holiday a little bit sweeter. Over the last two years, Ginny has raised over £500, each year, towards this wonderful project. Aiming for a target of £600 this year, it is not too late to help Ginny meet her goal by making a donation to Ginny’s Go Fund Me page below. 

From Ginny & family, and her charitable organisations, a massive thank you for all your support. From us here at Blackheath High, well done Ginny! 

Enrichment lessons supporting the Lewisham Donation Hub 

As part of their Enrichment lessons, Year 11 students have been working with the Lewisham Donation Hub, a vital resource which collects and organises donations of all kinds, then shares them with those facing hardship in the borough. To support this much-needed charity, students planned a teacher karaoke event to raise funds for the Hub and also help them coordinate a winter coat donation drive. This was a very successful initiative – thank you to all the families who donated coats, it makes a big difference to the families who receive them. 

Junior School collect toys for The Salvation Army 

Junior School Council Representatives from Year 2 and 3 helped with the delivery of donated toys to The Salvation Army on Thursday 7 December. Along with Madame Morriseau, who regularly volunteers at The Salvation Army, the girls helped to pile a car full of wonderful gifts for vulnerable children. This Advent Charity initiative was enabled by the generosity of the Junior School girls and their families – thank you. 

‘Room on the Broom’ Classics for Kids Spooktacular 

Classics for Kids is a musical extravaganza held at Senior School for the smallest people in our local community, where our Director of Music, Mrs Butterworth, is joined by some talented Year 11 musicians to take 0-5s on a musical adventure. This October, we held a bewitching ‘Room on the Broom’ Halloween special, where visiting mini-boos were taken on a musical journey with the witch, the frog, the cat and all their friends. We loved welcoming in our community and had some really lovely feedback - thank you all.