Harvest Festival Posted on: 13 Oct 2017

On Friday 6th October 2017 we held our Annual Harvest Festival.  Our nominated charities, The People’s Kitchen and South Tyneside Churches’ KEY Project, will benefit from the donations received.

Prior to the assembly, our Year 11 House Captains visited the KEY Project with Miss Dunne to learn about how the donations would be distributed; the found the experience incredibly eye-opening.  Our student leaders then addressed the whole school to share what they had learned from the visit.

Ruby said “many have the view that homeless people are associated with crime and wrong doings.  Our visit to the KEY Project challenged these preconceptions.  The people we met were the opposite of that negative stereotype.  One of the people I met was an ex-soldier and, at times, has slept in a tent on the beach.  It was surprising to see how happy he was and, despite having his own troubles, he kept telling us that we need to go to university and make a life for ourselves.  We really need to realise that this is happening all around us and we need to help.”

Amelia said ” the thing I learnt the most was that this amazing charity is just around the corner from my house and I was completely oblivious.  Some of these young people had nobody to love or care for them and I was reminded that, when people work together as a community, then we can help people overcome hardships.  We all need to take some responsibility to help others where we can, as the hardships they face could happen to any one of us.”

 

Oliver also found the experience incredibly humbling; ” people at the KEY Project treated us with respect, they told us how lucky they were to have places such as the food bank that they could turn to.  Not once did they mention lacking anything and it was immediately clear how grateful they were.  We realised how fortunate we are in comparison.  Those who had nothing did not want to talk about the hardships in their life but only the positives that places like the KEY Project provide.”

 

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to the whole school community as nearly 2,000 items were kindly donated by our pupils, their families and staff.