Fundraising and Charitable work
Throughout the year, we hold various events to help raise money both for the school and other worthy causes, such as Families in Ukraine, Children in Need and WWF. We have also supported local causes, including monthly litter picks in Bedale, local food banks and fundraising for various Cancer Charities eg. Brain Tumour Research, The RVI - a specialist hospital in Newcastle that has treated two of our pupils.
Being of service to our local community
Bedale Litter Pick
On the 3rd Sunday of every month, a growing group of pupils and parents gather to pick up litter around the town. Rain or shine, we have helped to tidy up the park, the High Street, the canal and further afield. It is so good when local people thank us for helping to keep Bedale beautiful.
Wear a Hat Day
On Friday 25th March 2022 we joined other schools across the country for Wear a Hat Day in support of Brain Tumour Research and The Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle. We had such a fun day and raised a fantastic amount of £350 for such important charities that are particularly close to all our hearts.
Wear Blue for Bailey
In March of 2020, one of our pupils received a cancer diagnosis. His treatment has been long and gruelling but he has dealt with everything that has been thrown at him with bravery and determination. The Children's Cancer fund has been an incredible support for him throughout his treatment and. His family and the school wanted to support their efforts and find a way to say thank you. Wearing blue, in recognition of his favourite football team, Chelsea, the day and fundraising effort was a terrific success.
We are thrilled to have raised a grand total of £12,714 for the Children’s Cancer Fund. This is such an incredible amount and will make a huge difference to the lives of children and young people receiving care in hospital. Thank you so much for your generosity and support.
Children in Need
Each year we raise money in school for Children In Need through dressing up and taking part in lots of fun activities. In November 2021, we all dressed up as our favourite real-life superhero. In addition, we held a fund-raising book sale. Children brought in books they were willing to sell to someone else in their year group for 20p per book. The book donations and costumes were fantastic and we are so proud of everyone's efforts which enabled us to raise a wonderful amount of over £520!
Rainforest
As part of our rainforest topic, the pupils in Six regularly raise money in support of a charity which helps look after this vital resource for our planet.
Most recently, during Autumn Term 2021, the Year 6 children learnt about different habitats around the world, and in particular, the rainforests of Borneo and Sumayra. Why these small islands? Because, as the children discovered, this is the only remaining place on Earth where orangutans can be found in their natural habitat. We used the book, 'There's a Rang Tan in My Bedroom' as a launch and expanded our research in many of our subjects.
The children presented their work from Geography, Computing, Art and English to parents in an incredible, emotional afternoon event. The children lead the planning, did all the presenting (tugging more than a few heartstrings!) and were successful in their attempt to raise money to safeguard the dwindling number of orangutans and try to save some of the rainforest from deforestation.
With the money raised (almost £450) we were able to sponsor 2 orangutans (who the children have named Derek and Pablo) who are now guaranteed a long and happy life in a protected habitat. Also, the money raised allowed us to buy 2 acres of rainforest, therefore guaranteeing that these acres will never be cut down, and therefore all the animals who live there have had their habitat secured. What an amazing achievement. You can find out more about WWF sponsorship here: Adopt an Orangutan | WWF.
This brings the total our pupils have raised while we have been running this unit of work to over £1000 with seven acres of precious forest sponsored.
Mettupalayam
For twenty years now, we have had links with Mettupalayam in India, supporting the work of the Friends of Mettupalayam (FOM) Click here to visit their Facebook page
FOM is a village-based project supporting children and adults in a very poor rural area of Tamil Nadu, South India. The project, founded in 1985, centred mainly on children, improving their future lives and health through education and better nutrition. In recent years, they have also expanded support to include the elderly, and the disabled.
At Bedale Primary School, we have been involved in raising money for development projects such as building a new school and buying resources to help the community. In previous years, members of staff have visited India as well as having guests from the village here in Bedale to see our school. If you want to know more about our recent work and links with Mettupalayam click here.
Sponsored Run for Ukraine - Global Awareness Club
Benkhill Lodge Care Home
At Bedale Primary, we love to help cheer people up in the local community. In late January 2021, EYFS chose to sing and record three of their favourite nursery rhymes for the people in Benkhill Lodge Care Home. As part of their music sessions, they focused on singing and learnt a range of different nursery rhymes; they decided the people at Benkhill would like to hear ‘I’m a little teapot’, ‘The Grand Old Duke of York’ and ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’. The children also included some actions and filmed their efforts which they hoped the residents at Benkhill would love to see. The residents certainly did enjoy the performances and kindly sent ‘Thank You’ cards to school to show their appreciation.
Postcards From Paddington
We have very caring children here at our school. In February 2021, Theo in Year 5 was given some money for his 10th birthday from his grandparents. Thoughtfully, he wanted to do something in which children of the world would benefit. He has spent it on a year’s subscription to UNICEF and has requested that the Postcards from Paddington be sent into school so that our children can learn about children from other countries. What a lovely thing to do!
Friends of the Friarage
Recently, Friends of the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton asked for help with designing a new logo for them. In February 2021, one of our Year 4 children, Emily K, found out that her design was one of the winning ones! Emily received a £10 gift voucher as her prize but she was just happy to take part and loved creating her design. Here is her entry – how fabulous!
Vaccination Artwork
All the children at Bedale Primary were invited to design and produce a poster or piece of art work that could be displayed at the Covid Vaccination Centre in Ripon. Their request was for happy, positive and colourful pictures to brighten up the reception area. Our children are always happy to help others, especially when it comes to cheering people up! They produced some lovely drawings which were laminated and displayed at the centre.
Fun Run
Every year in the Summer Term, we hold our annual Fun Run on the school field, which has been a fixture of the school summer for over a decade now. With stalls organised and managed by the Year 6 children, this is always an exciting and popular event for the rest of the school to join in with. Each year, the children decide on a different charity they would like to support.
Other charities
There are a number of other charities that we have able to support over recent years, including: Comic Relief (Red Nose Day), One Love Manchester, Motor Neurone Disease Association, Band Aid 30, Help for Heroes, Teenage Cancer Trust, Send a Cow and Wear it Pink - Breast Cancer Campaign.
