On Tuesday 10 October, the Art department hosted a special community event, The Big Draw, to celebrate the school’s love for creativity and to raise money for their local charity, the Oasis Children’s Trust. The Big Draw gives pupils and parents the opportunity to come together and work on a community art project as a collective.
One of Danes Hill School’s greatest achievements is the vast amount of charitable work and fund-raising that continues to be undertaken by the whole school community year on year. This term, the school are supporting the vital work of the Oasis Children’s Trust and through a programme of events, the school hopes to raise as much money as possible for the charity.
The Oasis Children’s Trust provides vital help to vulnerable families and children in Elmbridge and the surrounding areas. The charity supports families that are in crisis and struggling to cope, those that have no voice and no power to change their home environment. The charity understands that being vulnerable is due to a multitude of causes including, financial hardship, abuse, addiction, or physical and mental health illnesses which can affect anyone, at any time. Oasis aims to support children and their families to help ensure safe, loving, family environments. The charity services include outreach, crisis support, legal services, emotional wellbeing, and their annual Christmas Appeal. This Christmas, the Danes Hill School community are overjoyed to be supporting the Oasis Charity with their provision of Christmas food hampers.
In the Oasis newsletter, Caroline Edwards, founder of Oasis Charity, commented, ‘we wish we could sit back and relax. Unfortunately, our fundraising efforts cannot stop. Our people are the beating heart of Oasis, and it is important we keep supporting them’.
The Dining Room at Danes Hill was transformed into a large and bright art studio for the Big Draw and special guest Steve Chapman led the evening’s events. Steve is an artist who specialises in nurturing freedom of spontaneous self-expression, creativity, and innovation. One of the Danes Hill teachers commented, ‘it was a joy to observe parents engaging in a creative process with their children and having fun’. A parent at Danes Hill reflected on how special it was to host the community event on World Mental Health Day. The beautiful work created by the school community will be exhibited within the school’s grounds for all to enjoy. During the event, the Danes Hill Art department held a raffle with art prizes and a silent bid for two pieces of Steve Chapman’s artwork. The raffle and silent bid raised a tremendous £1068 for Oasis Children’s Trust. In response to Danes Hill’s fundraising efforts, Caroline Edwards said, ‘that is fantastic news, please thank the children so much for their support. What wonderful news to end the week on’.
Maxine Shaw, Head of Danes Hill School said, ‘A Danes Hill education is a privilege and with that privilege comes the responsibility to give back. This wonderful family event, to support families who are struggling, was wonderful to be part of. The Big Draw was an opportunity to bring the school community together in celebration of World Mental Health Day whilst raising funds for a very worthy cause.’
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