THE Big Sleep Out
C harit y Action Group
delivered to the three organisations at the start of
the Christmas holiday. The generosity of students and
parents was overwhelming and, among many other
items, we collected 110kg of pasta, 104 packets of
cereal, 600 tins of soup, 139 hats, 41 blankets and 60
toothbrushes, items which were all appreciated.
Above: The Christmas
food collection
Right: Sponge the Teachers
at Lower School Charity Week
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This year we selected two charities to assist: Mind
and Refugee Action, the latter run by Old Sennockian
Stephen Hale (OS 1990). The group of 15 students
from Year 10 to the Upper Sixth gave assemblies to
explain the importance of the work of these charities,
and also helped to coordinate the activities of tutor
groups during Lower, Middle and Upper School
Charity Weeks. In total they raised close to £15,000
to be split between the two organisations. Buoyed by the success of this initiative, at the end
of the Lent term we ran a collection to support
Salut Malawi, a small Tonbridge-based charity which
supports teenage girls in sub-Saharan Africa. Research
has shown that many girls in this region are unable
to attend school once they reach puberty as they do
not have access to suitable underwear or sanitary
products. This is a relatively easy problem to solve
and the support of our student, parent and staff body
was incredible with 300 bars of soap, 120 bras and
400 pairs of pants donated for shipment to Malawi.
In addition £1000 was collected to buy 340 reusable
sanitary pads which will make a huge difference to the
lives of many girls in Africa.
A very successful innovation this year was the school-
wide Christmas collection for three local charities: the
Loaves and Fishes Foodbank in Sevenoaks, Helping
the Homeless in Medway and Nightwatch in Croydon.
During the final three weeks of the Michaelmas term
we collected food, clothing and toiletries which we A final highlight was the Big Sleep Out, now in its
third year. This initiative probably does more than
anything else to help students consider some of the
challenges facing those forced into homelessness, and
almost £2000 was raised for Porchlight.
Vanessa Fitzgerald
SERVICE
Every student aimed to raise a minimum
of £20 in sponsorship for Porchlight, a
Tonbridge-based charity helping homeless
people in Kent and Croydon. Each £20
raised will fund a basic starter pack of
food and toiletries for someone on their
first night in one of Porchlight’s hostels.
Charity Action Group ran its third annual
Big Sleep Out, fundraising and raising awareness
of the problems facing the homeless.
Forty-three students in Years 10-12 and three
members of staff spent one night sleeping outside
on the school campus, with just sleeping bags and
cardboard for protection. We were grateful that the
weather this year made the Big Sleep Out pleasant,
as having done it for the last two years, we know
that it is not always like this. Even in these rare,
warm conditions, sleeping on the ground is never
a comfortable experience. It allows us, to some
extent, to gain an insight into the lives of the
shocking number of people who have to sleep
rough on the street every night.
We arrived on campus at 7pm and were given
a briefing by the teachers before setting up
our cardboard home for the night. After having
soup around a campfire, we chatted for a while
amongst ourselves and then settled down to
sleep. Once you do get to sleep, you can easily be
awakened by the occasional church bells, other
people, and general disturbances around the school.
A sleepless night has a huge impact on the next
day, and concentrating in lessons the following day
was a real struggle.
We are very grateful to the teachers who ran the
event. We can safely say that, as a result, we are
less prone to take our everyday luxuries for granted.
Although the Sleep Out is not a completely
authentic experience (we sleep in a safe area,
comforted by the knowledge that we will sleep in
a warm bed the following night) it is still incredibly
valuable as we raise both awareness and money
to support the homeless.
SEVENOAKS SCHOOL 2017-2018
Rebecca Funnell and Rosalie Owen, Lower Sixth
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