GDST teachers ask for donations instead of presents this Christmas

Junior School staff at Newcastle High School for Girls have raised more than £2,500 for local charities

donations christmas

More than £2,500 has been raised for local charities in Newcastle following a request from teachers at the junior school of Newcastle High School for Girls that money usually spent on Christmas gifts for them be redirected to people in need.

One of the charities supported by NHSG tweeted that they were ‘crying with happiness’

Parents were full of praise for the initiative and generous in their donations. The monies raised went to two local charities that the whole school community raised money for this festive season: The People’s Kitchen which supports homeless and disadvantaged people in the city and East End Women which supports women and children in the East of Newcastle and Wallsend. Building Futures East, the charity behind East End Women tweeted that they were, ‘Crying with happiness’ at the donation from NHSG. Some of the money raised by the Junior School went to other local charities, too.

A member of staff explained the teachers’ decision: “It came about after a discussion amongst our staff about how generous our parents are at Christmas and although we appreciate that parents want to say, ‘thank you’ to the teaching and support staff in Junior School, we felt that there are worthy charities who may appreciate a donation during what has been a particularly challenging time for charities due to events/runs/fundraising events being cancelled due to covid19”.

In addition, the Senior school raised a further £3k for The People’s Kitchen and East End Women by creating an online donation page and asking for food and toiletries to be donated as well. The page can be found here https://chinshaw19.wixsite.com/nhsg

Mr Michael Tippett, Head at Newcastle High School for Girls, said:

“At NHSG, we feel it’s very important that we work to support our local community, and as we know this year it is more important to than ever.  The generosity of the parents has been staggering, and we are very grateful for all of their support. We hope that their gift will support individuals and families in our community, and we are particularly pleased to be providing significant support to the two charities we work most closely with, the People’s Kitchen and East End Women, both of whose work is valued by so many in Newcastle”.