Barnhill in the Community

The idea of the ‘Secret Santa Service’ came about in a meeting where the leadership team were considering ideas that we could run for Christmas. We were inspired with not only the previous Valentine’s Day events but also with Secret Santa which students often partook in.

Soon enough candy canes, glue dots and ribbon had to be ordered as we only had about a week to prepare. During this hectic week, while some prefects cut up the cards for the message to be written on, others tied bows all in preparation for the big day where we had to set up boxes and chase down the card machine. All in all, the selling process was a fun experience where the younger years got to interact with both us and each other However, before we could total up all the money raised, we had to ensure that every candy cane reached its target recipient which meant another hectic week of organising and decoding messages for the leadership team! Ultimately, we are proud to see how the fruits of our labour and the engagement from the entire school led to benefitting others during Christmas.

Following on from this, Tuesday 16th December was the first Barnhill Movie Night for Year 12 and 13 to raise more money for food banks. After school, sixth form students were invited to movie night to watch ‘Home Alone’ where they could also buy a wide variety of food for example, hot chocolate, cakes, cookies and much more. We raised over £450 alongside the candy cane events which has been a great accomplishment for the leadership team.

It was an amazing opportunity for the students to come together and enjoy a calm afternoon which has boosted the community. We received great feedback and a consensus that it was an enjoyable time. Melisa, Y12 prefect, said “The movie night was a great opportunity to bond with others and have a moment to de-stress from academics”. Najii, Y12  student, said “It was a very enjoyable and thrilling experience.”

From both the candy cane and movie night events, the leadership team were able to use the money raised to provide foodbanks with necessities. A great thank you to the leadership team for not only helping organise this but also for promotion across the year group. All money was used to buy and donate food to our local food banks, helping to support families in the local community over the Christmas period.