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| Making A Difference at Eagle House |
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Once a term the children and staff at Eagle House try to ‘Make A Difference’ during a week of activities which focus on changing their lives and lives of others, for the better. Our Charities - 26th April - 30th April 2010 During the week all Year groups were able to practise their tennis skills and raise some money for Save the Children. A speed gun measured serve speeds and fun tennis games were played. All who participated brought in a donation for Save the Children after we heard about the charity's work in assembly. It was a fun way to raise some money during our Make a Difference Week. Well done to all who contributed. This term we are concentrating on the charities that play an important part in our lives at Eagle House. These organisations play a big part in our LFL programme and very often are reflected in the Make A Difference weeks we hold once a term. We ensure that the work of the charitable organisations is fully understood by the pupils through assemblies with visiting speakers and by completing follow-up classroom work. We try to ensure that the children see where the money we raise is going and the benefit it gives to others. Through links with charities we hope to teach the pupils to:
Treloar’s is a school in Alton, Hampshire which is concerned with providing a stimulating education for physically disabled children and young people. We have close links with the school. Pupils from Eagle House have visited in order to see the excellent work being done there and to see how any money we raise is being spent. The work with Treloar is not just about fund-raising but also about Eagle House pupils understanding a little more about disability.
Tabitha Foundation UK has been established to support Tabitha Cambodia, a non-profit organization which has been active in Cambodia since 1994. Eagle House has supported the charity for the past six years with a previous member of staff now Tabitha’s UK director. Staff have also visited the projects in Cambodia. Cambodia still ranks among the world’s poverty hot spots. According to Business Week (Oct 14, 2002), 57% of the population lives under the poverty line, 70% lack clean water, and 46% of the children are malnourished. Tabitha UK primary goals include: Raising funds and awareness for the Wells for Clean Water Project. Promoting volunteer house building teams to travel to Cambodia. Supporting cottage industry projects by promoting Tabitha's handmade products.
Eagle House has linked with Feed The Children UK for Harvest Festival. Wherever there is famine, conflict, disease or poverty, it's always the children who are most vulnerable. Operating from offices in Twyford (near Reading) and Bristol, Feed The Children UK concentrates aid on children suffering the effects of poverty, especially those who have been orphaned or abandoned. They do not just ask for money - they also ask for life-saving goods to send to the projects they support. Feed The Children concentrates on:
Dogs for the Disabled is a pioneering charity that trains specially selected dogs to carry out a range of practical tasks to assist disabled children and adults in order to achieve greater independence – we are the only assistance dog charity to train dogs specially for disabled children. Charity Events at Eagle House At Eagle House we have also supported charities on one off occasions such as Thames Valley & Chiltern Air-Ambulance and Guide Dogs for the Blind. We are always open to pupils or staff having ideas about new charities to support, either as a one off or for a period of time. This allows us to react to problems in news and to support charities close to individual’s hearts. To this end we are happy to help children who want to initiate a fund raising activity and organise something within their class or year group. In the future we hope to get more pupils involved in the organisation of charitable events through the work done by the School Council. At present our main fund raising events are as follows:
Over the last three years over £6000 has been raised for charity. And of course there is our own Aiming High campaign to help benefit all boys and girls at Eagle House with the building of our new Sports & Performing Arts Centre.
That's News to Me 1st - 6th February 2010 Go to Newsround to see what's making the News We focused on the news. We are surrounded by news, some good, most of it bad. We looked at how the news affects us. Are we bothered by what goes on around the world? A good general knowledge is important and we should be aware of what makes the headlines. During the week pupils made their own newspapers, broadcasts and watched the news! Readathon total £2308.00 - well done to everyone! A fantastic total. Keep on Reading! Reading for Success - October 2009
Our Make a Difference week concentrated on reading. Reading benefits nearly every aspect of our lives and the more we do the better we become. Reading entertains, educates and excites and the emphasis is on us all to read as much as we can over the week and beyond. Reading activities throughout the week helped show how much fun can be had from delving into a good book. We are also supported Readathon - the reading charity. All pupils got someone to sponsor them to read and so helped two important charities for sick children. For more information go to Readathon The week ended with Words in Motion - a lively performance of poetry on the theme of the Weird and Wonderful. 24 performers took part. E Factor 9th May 2009 - once again we raised a massive total for charity. Click Here for pictures and more information. Looking after our Environment 5th - 9th May 2009 Two years ago we embarked on a Make A Difference week that looked at how we care for the environment in our school. We focused on saving energy (a no electricity day), recycling and looking at our carbon footprint. This week was to re-visit this very important theme and to reinforce the eco code STRIVE, a call to arms thought up by the pupils. Save energy-petrol-water Turn off lights-taps-computers Recycle-reuse-reduce Inspire others to be Green Value your school grounds Eat a healthy diet and exercise Many different activities - recycling, an eco fashion show, creative writing classes on environmental themes, reducing the amount of disposable cups - are all part of our efforts to STRIVE. The whole school community 'Zapped That Trash' with a litter pick around the grounds and in the Wellington College woods - Pictures show how much was cleared up. Year 7 organised an eco fashion show in assembly. They told us about ethical clothing and how to shop wisely for products that we might want to buy. Here are some of the models. The Boys do their thing! And the girls walk the walk How do we treat others? 9th -13th February 2009 It all too easy to resort to thoughtlessness and hurt somebody's feelings. For this Make A Difference we are concentrating on how we treat others so that our community can be made into a better place. There are drama workshops and performances for all year groups and we will be looking at the topic through discussions and talks. Bullying is a topic that all schools take seriously and we aim to give all pupils a good understanding of how to treat all people with respect and care. Drama Workshops As part of the Make-A-Difference week, Year 7&8 took part in a workshop run by Nextstage Theatre Company from Bath. The sessions used drama to explore the thoughts and actions of bullies and victims helping the pupils to understand and cope with the complex issues involved.
Bully’s Paradise Years 2-6 were treated to a production by Firehorse theatre company which saw the main characters ‘Spotty Smith’ and ‘Bully Brown’ cope with being marooned on a desert island together and both have to look at how their behaviour impacted on the other. The production was a great vehicle for highlighting the way we can get into behavioural habits and how this makes other people feel. At the end of the production the children asked some really thoughtful questions.
Who Do You Think You Are? 10th - 15th November 2008 Our focus for this term's Make A Difference is thinking about ourselves and our families. Many pupils have searched family trees and found out about their ancestors. Some have revealed a famous grandfather or cousin and many have unearthed stories about long forgotten relatives. The Old Library has played host to all the projects that the children have worked on. This has been a brilliant week and the efforts that so many children have put into the project have helped to build a picture of their lives and how it fits into their family history. The E Factor Saturday 10th May 2008 - raising money for charity The E Factor Winners This was the third ‘E Factor’ to be held at Eagle House. Over the last three years the event has become a much anticipated date in the school calendar, showcasing the vast and diverse talents of pupils of all ages, whilst raising over £3,500 for charity.
28th April - 2nd May 2008 - Creative Play Looking at different games for us all to enjoy in our leisure time - so throw off those PSPs and Wiis and come on outside for some great games. Let's be creative and use the wonderful surroundings to have some fun. To start off the week we had a great workshop on skipping. This was a a tremendous opportunity to show the different skills you can develop with a skipping rope. The Eagle House children were amazing and skipping ropes abound around the school! Throughout the week all sorts of games were played and many new ones learnt. Well done everyone - the perfect time as summer approaches to get outside and have some fun! 11th February - 15th February 2008 - Understanding Disability
7S Visit to Treloar's School Coping with a maths lesson with impaired movement in the hands I'm not sure that their singing was appreciated by the pupils!
5PJO experience what it would be like to be blind Throughout the school we will be looking at how disability can make life so much harder and how it should in no way be allowed to stand in the way of a person's hopes and dreams. Friday 15th February will be a non-uniform day with money raised going to Dogs for the Disabled, Guide Dogs for the Blind and Treloar's School. Last term, the week coincided with Harvest Festival and we asked the question – Are you ‘Hungry’ or ‘Starving’? The pupils worked hard to eat a healthy diet and to reduce the waste from the kitchens to almost nothing!
We also linked up with the Twyford based Charity ‘Feed the Children’, who came to tell us about projects in this country and abroad. Feed The Children UK concentrates aid on children suffering the effects of poverty, especially those who have been orphaned or abandoned. Unusual among charities, they do not just ask for money - they also ask for life-saving goods to send to the projects they support.
Over the course of the week, the children at Eagle House collected dry food goods and toiletries to give to the charity. The children brought in a donation in return for not having to wear their uniform for a day! We also had a ‘Poverty Lunch’, which consisted of rice and fruit. The money saved by the school kitchens was donated to the charity. All together we donated over £500 to Feed The Children.
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