Norwich School is pleased to support a range of charities and organisations throughout the year as part of our fundraising and partnerships activity. 

This year, fundraising efforts will be spread across three main charities throughout the year: one local, one national and one international. We hope that this structure will help continue to develop a more meaningful and focussed approach to fundraising by allowing pupils to be actively involved in the choosing of a charity.

The newly formed Partnerships Committee (previously the Charities Committee) recently selected three charities for pupils to choose between to become our local charity. Senior School pupils were invited to have their say by casting their vote for which local charity to support in our upcoming home clothes day. 

The three charities in the vote were:

Friend In Deed

Friend in Deed is a Norfolk-based charity set up by Kelly Lindsay, which enables schools and other local groups to create intergenerational friendships. The charity aims to reduce loneliness and encourage kindness. It offers a wide range of activities which help to unite the younger and older generations. These different activities include a pen pal scheme, music sessions, school projects and community and themed events.

Dogs Trust in Snetterton

Dogs Trust is the UK’s largest dog welfare charity and cares for over 15,000 dogs each year through a network of 20 rehoming centres in the UK, with around 1300 stray and abandoned dogs in their care at any one time. The money raised would be essential for the welfare and treatment of abandoned dogs in Snetterton as it would be donated towards the Snetterton branch in Norfolk. Dogs Trust offers a wide range of different ways that people are able to support or provide aid to the dogs, including: providing dog school for the owner and dogs to connect and better understand each other, organising fundraising events, such as a Christmas Dog walk and also provide a volunteer scheme to encourage people to support and care for abandoned dogs in their area. 

CHEERS of the NHS

CHEERS stands for Child and Adolescent East of England Rheumatology Service. They help with rheumatic diseases: these are diseases that affect your joints tendons, ligaments, bones, and muscles. Their goal is for the child and young person to be able to fulfil their potential in all areas of growth and development, without any restriction associated with their condition. One in a thousand children and young people are living with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) and a number of others have rare inflammatory rheumatological conditions including Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and vasculitis.  These conditions require specialist care, specific medications and a multidisciplinary team approach. This team includes doctors, specialist nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, a pharmacist, research team, psychologists and support staff.

Voting for the charities took place at lunchtime on Friday 26 November. Pupils and staff were invited to cast their vote by dropping a token into a box labelled with the charity they want to win. With over 1000 votes cast, the voting was tightly contested, but it was an overall victory for the Dogs Trust. Any funds raised on our upcoming Home Clothes Day will therefore be donated to the Snetterton branch of the Dogs Trust.