Charities

All pupils are encouraged to help organise and support a range of activities to contribute to local and national charities. In doing so we feel it is important to raise their awareness that there are people in the world less fortunate, and that people’s practical needs can be met.

Pupils are regularly involved in various events and themed days to raise funds for worthy local and national causes. Last year we supported a number of charities and good causes including Children in Need, Haven House and the Jeans for Genes charity.

Charities Report 2022-23

Pupils Gabriella and Georgia’s charity report for the year:

“We have raised money for a number of different charities this year, which have helped children and adults locally, nationally and globally.

Our first charity day was to support ‘Jeans for Genes’ in September and we raised £190. Later in September, we sent everyone’s generous Harvest donations to the Whitechapel Mission, who feed many of London’s homeless people.

In November, the school raised £298 for ‘Children in Need’.

The children in Early Years Foundation Stage became particularly active on 12 December, when they found their ‘Festive Feet’ to raise an amazing £796 for Haven House. On the last morning of the Autumn Term, we all wore our Christmas jumpers to support ‘Chrisis at Christmas’ raising £182.

During the Spring Term, our Maths knowledge and ability was used during the NSPCC ‘Number Day’ in February to raise £267. We dressed up as our favourite book character for ‘World Book Day’, raising £160 which we sent to World Book Aid.

At the end of the Spring Term we raised over £230 for ‘Comic Relief’ by wearing red to school.

Our most recent project has been to support the Epping Forest Foodbank, to which we delivered food equivalent to the weight of a Manatee, to help local people living with poverty and distress.

Together we have raised over £2,260 this year and donated food to those less fortunate than ourselves.

Thank you everyone for your support and generosity.”

Christmas Carol Service 2022

This year, Years 5 and 6 told the stories of the journeys made on the night Jesus was born. From Mary and Joseph, King Herod, the wise men and even the shepherds and their sheep, everyone had a journey to take to get to the stable.

The whole school got everyone truly in the Christmas spirit with ‘Ding Dong Merrily On High’, and performed a special rendition of ‘Oh Holy Night’ by candlelight.

As per tradition a collection for Mill Grove Family Centre was taken at the end of the service, which will help many in need. Thank you for your generous donations.

Oaklands Choir Charity Event

The Oaklands School Year 6 Choir performed a medley of Christmas songs at the London Hilton on Park Lane for a very special charity event. The children sang ‘Ding Dong Merrily On High’ and ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas’ as well as a selection of other songs, accompanied by hand bells and tambourines.

They even got the whole crowd up singing with them!

Jeans for Genes Day

Jeans for Genes Day is all about raising money and awareness to help some of the most vulnerable people in the UK affected by a genetic condition. Thank you to all of our families who donated!

Harvest Time

Thank you to all our families for all their amazing contributions towards our Harvest Festival week. The children had a wonderful assembly, celebrating the fact that they have made a massive difference in the lives of families in need!

Danceathon

The Early Years children had great fun in their sponsored Danceathon. Hopefully we will raise lots of money for the local charity, Haven House. Thank you for your donations!

Christmas Carol Service 2021

We had a wonderful afternoon on Wednesday 8 December at the annual Christmas Carol Service. Children from Years 1 to 6 gathered at St Mary’s Church Loughton ready to show their friends and family the wonderful production they’ve all been working so hard on.

As per tradition a collection for Mill Grove Family Centre was taken at the end of the service, which will help many in need the festive season.

Children in Need

Pupils at Oaklands came into school dressed up in ‘all things spotty’ in support of the charity Children in Need. The pupils also kindly brought in a donation to support this worthy cause. Everyone looked great!

Harvest Festival 2021

The donations raised at last year’s Harvest Festival will be sent to the White Chapel Mission, where they will distribute the food to those in need. We had a beautiful Harvest Assembly where we were challenged to think about how we should be thankful for all we have. We were reminded what Harvest is all about and ended the assembly with a beautiful Harvest song led by Mrs Rathbone.

Jeans For Genes Day!

Our first charity day of the 2021-22 year went brilliantly with all the children taking part in Jeans for Genes day!

Sisters donated hair to the little princess trust

Millie and Ava, twin sisters in Year 6, together with Annabel, their 7-year-old sister in Year 2, have donated some of their hair for the second time to ‘The Little Princess Trust’.

This is a charity which was created in 2006 that provides real-hair wigs, free of charge, to children and young people, who have lost their hair through cancer treatment or other conditions. Since 2006, the charity has supplied over 8,000 wigs to cancer sufferers.

Because the charity uses real hair, the wig can be cut, curled, or straightened to match the person’s original look – or to create a new style.

All three girls had their hair cut on 7 May 2021 by a friend of the family, who is a professional hair dresser. They all had between 10-12 inches cut off and had to follow very clear instructions provided by the charity. Millie and Ava described the procedure:

  • Washed our hair with shampoo and conditioner
  • Then we blow dried it
  • Put our hair in 2 bunches and then plaited each one
  • The plaits were cut off above the hairband
  • Placed our plaits in a plastic bag and sealed it
  • Registered online on the charity website so that we could post our hair off to the ‘Little Princess Trust’.

All the girls are looking forward to receiving their certificates in recognition of their charitable gesture.

Well done girls!

 

Children In Need

Our pupils made a fantastic effort to support Children in Need today. Children came to school in lots of colourful or spotty clothes for the day, and we even had our own Pudsey Bear face paint. Thank you to all of our parents and pupils for their generous donations!

 

Macmillan Coffee Morning

A big thank you to the staff at Oaklands who raised £141.47 during their Macmillan Coffee Morning!

NHS

Every year, Year 6 run a highly successful mini fete for the younger children in the school. This year they came up coming up a range of ideas such as dance offs, guess the song, guess how many sweets in the jar, a football quiz, treasure hunt and more.  Everyone had a wonderful day and overall £536.71 was raised for the NHS! Well done Year 6 and thank you to everyone for their donations.

Sport Relief

To celebrate Sport Relief this year, pupils and staff joined forces and dressed as their favourite Sporting Hero. It was fantastic to see so many amazing outfits and happy faces at Oaklands and the school are so proud of everyone’s efforts to make it an enjoyable day. In the end we raised an incredible £212.95 for Sport Relief which is sure to make a huge difference. Thank you everyone for your donations!

 

NSPCC

The whole school took part in the NSPCC Numbers Day. Everybody wore clothes with a number on and took part in special Maths activities during the day. Years 1 to 6 enjoyed a “Who wants to be a mathionaire” quiz and were challenged to apply their knowledge to answer tricky questions. In assembly the Year 6 children in Willow House told the children in Key Stage 1 and 2 about the work the NSPCC do to protect children and how Childline has helped many children around the country.

Haven House

In December, the Early Years department took part in a Festive Feet Funday to raise money for Haven House. They all wore festive socks before participating in a sponsored Danceathon, lasting 15 or 20 minutes depending on the children’s age. Thank you all for your generous donations, the children were delighted to present a cheque for £960 to Haven House!

Year 5 also raised money for Haven House, by holding an afternoon tea for their parents. They baked all the cakes and scones themselves and raised over £80!

Some charities we have supported over recent years have been:

  • WE Day
  • Zambia Project
  • Great Ormond Street
  • Comic Relief
  • Guide Dogs for the Blind
  • Children in Need
  • Whitechapel Mission
  • Royal British Legion
  • NSPCC
  • Cancer Research UK
  • Macmillian
  • And many more…