Community work
Cooking sessions and welcome pack for refugees and asylum seekers
During the Christmas holiday, Redmaids' High provided space for Bristol City Council to run Holiday Activities and Food Clubs for two days. Working with Bridges for Communities, Children's Kitchen and Westbury Welcome, this event was set up for Afghan refugee families to give them an opportunity to cook together, get involved in fun crafts, sports activities and have a group feast.
Redmaids' High has also been working with Bridges for Communities and Westbury Welcome, who support families who have been resettled in Bristol. We invited a group of Afghan women to use our food tech room. The women had given us a list of ingredients that we bought, and they cooked their own dishes to take back to share with their family and friends.
We have also collected items to make 'Welcome Packs'. This included: women's or men's clothes in good condition, a pair of nail clippers, fresh underwear and clean socks. As well as clothes, the children's backpacks consisted of second-hand uniform, pens, notebooks and water bottles. These donations can have a massive impact on making someone's journey as a refugee or asylum seeker a little less challenging so our Senior Almoners encouraged everyone to get involved in any way possible.
Care4Calais Appeal
Students at Redmaids' High managed to fill over 20 bags with coats, shoes and toys to help refugees arriving in Calais.
Bristol Parent Carer Forum
We hosted a coffee morning in November 2022 for all SEND parents. This was an opportunity for parents to seek advice from the Forum members around support for SEND at home, as well as in the community, signposting to professionals and accessing services.
The Moldova Annual Summer Project
We raised £1,024 for The Moldova Project's annual Summer Project, giving vulnerable children a week of fun and educational activities.
Bristol North West Foodbank support
Our Sixth Formers volunteered to leaflet drop around the local area for Bristol North West Foodbank to help support struggling families over the winter.
Along with Church volunteers, Whitetree and Spitflire Explorer Scout Units our students collectively raised around £8860 through their flier drops.
Syria
Raised funds for the Al-Huda Bakery in Syria by selling a box of the finest Medjool dates for £10 during Ramadan. Each box sold raised funds for fifty loaves of bread for a Syrian family.
The Pachamama Project
Ella Lambert came to talk to Year 9 about her charity The Pachamama Project. This charity was set up by Ella in lockdown to provide reusable sanitary towels for refugees around the world. We then launched a club for Year 9 students after the Easter holidays in 2023 where they made some period products to send off.
In addition, our students launched a 'Pop a Pad' initiative in school during the 2021-22 academic year to collect sanitary products which were then donated to The Hygiene Bank in Bristol for people who couldn't afford these products.
Volunteering with Caring at Christmas
For more than thirty years Redmaids' High girls have fundraised for Caring at Christmas to be able to support those who face homelessness over the Christmas period. Collections of clothes, food and toiletries are donated to the shelter as well as Christmas decorations made by the students. Sixth formers go to the shelter and decorate, sort out food and make beds in preparation for Christmas.
'Travelling Light' Charity Contribution
During the 2021-22 academic year, the students at Redmaids' High raised around £240 for 'Travelling Light', a Bristol based charity which is committed to providing creative opportunities to children and young children, especially those who are less able to pursue them.
Local hospitals
A group of Redmaids' High musicians which included a string ensemble, members of Close Encounters, and a larger choir, performed at Southmead Hospital to shared the joy of music. It had an enormous impact on the wellbeing of the whole hospital community, particularly for staff. It also helped encourage people to make donations in support of Southmead Hospital Charity.
In addition, we ran a Paint Pals club for Year 7 students, with the aim to make and create artwork that benefits others, in school and the wider community. We set up a partnership with the NHS BRI and Weston Hospital Trust to exchange the artwork created with patients at these hospitals.
Redmaidio, the Redmaids' High radio station, joined forces with Radio Lollipop in 2017 to raise both awareness and money for Bristol Children's Hospital Radio Lollipop station. In addition, Sixth Form students organised a disco for year seven and eight which raised money for Radio Lollipop.
Paint Pals Project with Residents at Meadowcare
For the past six years Year 7 girls have partnered with a local care home and have been exchanging letters and paintings, in an effort to combat loneliness in the elderly. They have been meeting regularly and painting cards to send to a group of elderly residents at Meadowcare Home in Redland.
Abbots Leigh Nursing Home
Redmaids' students have visited the Home each week where they have taken part in a variety of activities, including one-to-one chats, crossword puzzles, nail painting, singing, and reading with the residents. The students have shown remarkable maturity, empathy, and generosity of spirit and the Home have loved having them! They finished the term by organising a singalong for all the residents with chocolates, cake and biscuits.
Minibus loan
We loaned out one of our school minibuses to Respite Explorers every Monday during the summer holiday.
Respite Explorers provide 1:1 respite to families with children who have additional needs. They used our minibuses to offer a full program of summer holiday activities from trips to adventure parks to woodland walks and sailing.
We loaned two minibuses to St Nicolas Church for their church students weekend away
Keynote speeches
Keynote speeches are given every year at Redmaids' High and everyone in the school community is invited to attend, including local residents.
Partnership with Freelance Mum
The aim of the project is to give support to women who are juggling being a parent and working by providing a platform from which they can network.
Partnership with Bristol Zoo
Redmaids’ High are helping to save lemurs from extinction, by sponsoring the lemur walk-through and enclosure at Bristol Zoo Gardens. In addition to sponsoring the lemur walkthrough, Redmaids' High Sixth Formers have sponsored camera traps on the island of Madagascar and will be analysing the data the they provide.
Redmaids' High has organised various musical performances for local residents, which are performed out and about in the community and to raise money for the Bristol Zoo Lemur Project,
'Concerts For The Community' Programme
Redmaids' High frequently invites the local community to attend concerts held in Redland Hall, in which professional musicians perform. The musicians, who have played in the concerts, include Adam Schiller, Bristol Ensemble, Nicola Benedetti, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Graham Caskie.
'Come and Sing' at Redmaids' High
Our Community Choir host a big "Come & Sing" event once a year which is open to the local community.
Holy Trinity Community Art Project
The community art project marked the 1,300th anniversary of Holy Trinity Church in Westbury-on-Trym and was installed in the church grounds. The ‘Hands in Prayer’ initiative, is an art installation made up of 1,300 clay hand clasps, made by students at Redmaids' High and by members of the Holy Trinity congregation.
Partnership with Local Brownies
Redmaids' High helped the local Brownies to get their star gazer or science badges by arranging a quiz on constellations, planets and phases of the moon. The Brownies were also shown how to use the schools' very own observatory to see the moon and stars at night.
