Sheffield Girls' celebrates Philanthropy and Service Day

On Friday the 7th of July, Sheffield Girls’ dedicated its annual whole school off-timetable day to ‘A Day of Philanthropy and Service’. 

This wonderful event saw students from every year group come together to participate in a plethora of activities relating to philanthropy, giving and service. We welcomed guest speakers from Cavendish Cancer Care, Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), NHS Blood and Transplant, LUSH and Africa’s Gift, which made for a packed day of perspective and impact. 

We began the day with an inspiring and motivational whole-school assembly which saw our teachers take on roles from the BBC’s ‘The Apprentice’ demonstrating the importance of our school values of positivity, courage and kindness in the context of philanthropy and service. 

Throughout the morning students selected activities ranging from food bank education to positive messaging through art.  Girls in the Infant School learnt about food banks, and considered different ways to spread positivity through Art, whilst the Juniors completed a project to design a future charity event.                                                     

Year 10 and Year 12 students collaborated with local charity, Baby Basics, to support their work with young families across the city, helping with packing, ironing, laundry and furniture construction. Other Senior school pupils completed a variety of activities including an animal welfare workshop at Heeley City Farm, considering legacy with the Royal British Legion and taking environmental action during a food waste project.

School alumna Faye Smith spoke about her choice to live philanthropically every day and shared information on the vitally important work carried out by one of the charities she works with: ‘Africa’s Gift’. Year 10 and Year 12 students then heard from Rosslyn Owen, Head of External Relations and Chris Spick, Head of Sixth Form about the philanthropic culture at Sheffield Girls; our Bursary Fund; our network of alumnae who give their time and advice to our students; and the ways in which friends of the school financially support bursary recipients.                                                     

Liz Rodgers, Assistant Head (Co-Curricular) said, “We are incredibly lucky to have a school bursting full of pupils who feel passionately about their local community and who show a philanthropic and caring mindset in their everyday behaviours. The activities planned for this Friday are designed to help them think with more purpose about the actions they can take and the small changes they can make, to benefit those around them and to support good causes locally and indeed across the world. In line with our school values of positivity, courage and kindness, at Sheffield Girls’ our sense of service and community isn’t about a single special day, it’s about embedding ideas and principles that will last a lifetime.”

Thank you to everyone involved in this wonderful day!