A local community charity that provides an amazing service for patients in need of palliative care, St Catherine’s Hospice,  have launched a new fund raising campaign – the Five-O project – an idea that Imberhorne students have taken and are very much running with! Starting today, the challenge of turning £50 into at least £1500 over an eleven week period has begun with a non-uniform day. Dispensing with our normal school dress code for a day, students have worn their own clothes in return for a donation.  The project has captured the hearts and mind of students at Imberhorne so much it has even enabled a favoured Hawaiian shirt to come out of the wardrobe for one of our Year 10 charity fund raisers! A reference to the popular TV series Hawaii Five-O surely!

A small team of six Year 10 students have come forward to head up the overall campaign with various reasons for their enthusiasm.  Sunita Cleary has had first-hand experience of the outstanding care that St Catherine’s provides when her Nan was diagnosed terminally ill.  During this difficult and sad time, Sunita came to appreciate the support that the charity can offer both the patient and family to follow the simple idea that a person is more than their illness.  Each of us has unique physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs and what we have left of our lives when we are dying, is very much for ‘living’.

George Hickman, another team member knows the skills that he possesses can really support this kind of initiative and that by getting involved in charity work; these skills can be developed and used in a valuable way in later life.  All of the Year 10’s who are driving the campaign have a positive and determined attitude towards being the best secondary school in terms of money raised and awareness heightened.  Henry Reid, was the first to comment on this matter when asked and said “We’re so confident when it comes to the £1500 target and we feel sure we will feature in the top 4 schools at least”.

Assemblies have been delivered on every day this week to ensure that all students at Imberhorne understand the work of the hospice and how St Catherine’s simply couldn’t operate without the help of the community. The assemblies have also been used to thank our students in advance for all that they can give over the coming weeks.  We are grateful to Emily Bradbury, Community Fundraiser and Linda Henson, Advanced Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner for their excellent delivery of these assemblies.

Our Five-O fund raising team have a student and parent raffle, cake sales and an inter-form colour code day in the planning stages and we look forward to seeing how their efforts turn into results.