Charity Fund-Raising

The School raises funds in a variety of ways, both for local and global charities.

Aims

Like all schools, Roedean has raised funds for a wide range of charities, but it was felt that sometimes the students had no clear sense of where their donations were going, or what good they did.  So, in 2022-2023, we decided to be more targeted and focused in our fund-raising.

Background

Each year-group in School has a discrete partner institution and charity, making the fund-raising more tangible for the students.

Representatives come to Roedean in September each year to talk about the charity and what funds are used for, and the Heads of Year then organise fund-raising opportunities and encourage the students to plan activities.

Examples of large-scale events in 2023-2024 include the following: 

·       Year 7 – the majority of the cohort abseiled down Peacehaven Cliffs for Rockinghorse 

·       Year 8 – 24-Hour Challenge for Motor Neurone Disease Association 

·       Year 9 – 49 students and staff abseiled 165 metres from the i360 to raise funds for Raystede 

·       Year 10 – charity sleep-out to understand the experience of a homeless person better for Off The Fence 

·       Year 11 and Sixth Form – charity car-wash and bake sales for Moldova 

in 2023-2024, the total amount raised for charity is £37,366 (accurate on 22May24)

Resources

This is an on-going programme, which benefits local charities, as well as projects further afield.

Impact

The most ground-breaking and transformational project has been Project 125 Moldova. 

In July 2023, twelve students and two members of staff travelled to Moldova in the first week of the summer holiday to teach English to Ukrainian refugee children and underprivileged Moldovans - the group taught 50 children for 4 hours a day for 5 days.

This trip brought together a number of strands: we welcomed 9 Ukrainian students to the School on free places (accommodated locally under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme), we had a Moldovan HMC Scholar, and Roedean has a strong social conscience. The experience was genuinely transformational, both for the Roedean students and those whom we taught.

On one day, we visited the orphanage outside the capital which will become the focus of our Project when the current situation in Ukraine is resolved. Having visited the orphanage, the School pledged to cover 3% of its annual running costs each year for the next decade, in order to have a meaningful and enduring impact. 

Pupil Involvement

Every student and member of staff is involved.

Frequency

Fund-raising is on-going throughout the year, with many small-scale initiatives, such as bake-sales, and at least one large-scale event as outlined above for each charity each year.