Prep Charity Day 2018

The weather proved most kind for Bancroft’s Prep School’s annual Charity Day which supported the Chigwell Riding trust for Special Needs and the Marine Conservation Society.

In the morning all the children showed great determination and energy in navigating the fences and water jumps of a sponsored steeplechase course fiendishly devised by Mr Archer. In total they ran a combined 2,520 furlongs or 315 miles.

The stalls and activities organised by the children themselves for the afternoon were really entertaining and enjoyable; they had clearly put a great deal of thought into them. There was the feeling of an old fashioned village fete about the afternoon as the School enjoyed the sunshine and set about raising £6000 for the two wonderful charities. Stalls, run by the Prep 1s and Prep 2s, featured face painting, hair braiding, treasure hunts, obstacle courses and guess the weight of the duckling. There were also plenty of homemade cakes and other goodies on sale thanks to the Betas (or perhaps more specifically their parents!). The Alpha class teachers ran a tombola and the youngest members of the Prep were encouraged to bring in prizes as their contribution. One of the most popular stalls was one which gave the pupils a chance to soak some of their brave teachers; other pupils enjoyed sumo style wrestling dressed in giant inflatable raspberry costumes!

This year the children in the Prep have been thinking about the impact of plastics on our oceans and their wildlife and so the decision to support the Marine Conservation Society was a natural one. The second charity supported was the Chigwell Riding Trust for Special Needs; this is a very special local charity which does fantastic work and a number of senior pupils from Bancroft’s have volunteered there

This year’s Charity Day was a lot of fun but, of course, it had a serious purpose too. One of our School aims is: “To help our children recognise their privileges and advantages; to engender in them a sense of compassion for others who are less fortunate; to help them think of practical ways in which they can make the wider world a better place.”

Joe Layburn, Prep School Head