Over the last year, Knox Academy has once again raised a lot of money for a number of different charities, from local charities like Cash for Kids, to national charities like Cancer Research UK and Children in Need, to international charities like The Red Cross and the Disasters Emergency Committee for Haiti.  In total generous Knox Academy pupils have raised nearly £3,000 for good causes.

Three committees were involved in the organisation of a number of events across the year, ranging from a Talent Show to S6 dressing up and even a Wear it Pink day.  The committees were all made up of S6 pupils who put in a huge amount of effort to ensure everyone could take part and have a fun time while raising money for the charities.  A big thank you has to go to all those S6 pupils who made every fundraiser a success.

 The first event of the year was the Wear it Pink day for Cancer Research’s Breast Cancer Support.  The event was a big success with all year groups being involved, wearing up to 3 items of pink clothing.  At the final count the day raised £595.

The next main fundraiser was for the annual Poppy Appeal.  Knox once again had to request extra poppies as they were very popular and nearly everyone wore a poppy at the Remembrance Assembly.  The silence was observed and Knox can once again be proud of their Remembrance Assemblies.  We raised around £1000.

After Remembrance Day the Charities Committee’s attention turned to Children in Need 2009.  Children in Need becomes an S6-only-zone, as only the S6 take part in the dressing up, along with some members of staff.  The intention was for the S6 to be dressed as children’s characters, however fancy dress can also be an excuse for all sorts of outfits.  One of the most memorable characters was the 3 Sumo wrestlers, they will be remembered for a long time.  The day was a good laugh and raised £560 for a worthy cause.

The annual Christmas Boxes Competition was handed to the Local Charities committee to organise and run this year.  The challenge facing the committee was to pick a theme that everyone could use to design their box.  The theme for 2009 was Disney Christmas.  This produced a few challenges for a number of classes because how could they make a classic Disney film into a Christmas scene, however all the classes managed to tackle their problems and this year every box was well done.  But there could only be one winner and that winner was 6T1, with their box decorated as the Disney castle.  All the Christmas boxes are filled with tins of soup and packets of biscuits.  They are sent out to many of the elderly in the community.  From the sheltered housing to the nursing homes all the Christmas boxes were gratefully received and once again Knox showed the other side of Christmas and remembered to give something back to the local community.  Well done to everyone who took part in the Christmas boxes and for setting such a high standard for next year to beat.

Another deserving recipient of Knox Academy pupil’s money was the poverty stricken country of Haiti.  The earthquake caused massive destruction across the country and Knox, along with the rest of the world, put their hands in their pockets and managed to raise around £700.  This was a fantastic response by the pupils and the charities committee because the whole collection took place less than a week after the disaster occurred.

In the long run down to the February half-term break the school braced itself for a wave of colour to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation’s Wear it Red day the school was filled with red shirts, ties, socks and other pieces of red clothing.  The day was very successful and raised £200 for the British Heart Foundation.

This whole year has been an amazing year for Knox Charities Committee as so many different events were held over the course of the year and so many needy causes have received assistance from the generosity of Knox’s pupils so really the Charities Committees have the pupils and staff to thank because without their generosity the money couldn’t have been raised and many worthwhile causes wouldn’t have benefitted.  So on behalf of the Charities Committees we would like to say a big thank you to everyone who donated over the year and who took part in the events to make this year such a success.

Roddy Coull and Aidan Lindsay (both 6T1)
on behalf of the Charities Committee