Running for Children in Need

SCHOOLS in Henley took part in fundraising activities in aid of Children in Need.

The annual nationwide fundraiser raised a total of
£45.5 million this year for children’s charities.

In Henley, primary schools including Trinity, Rupert House and St Mary’s held events throughout the day, last Friday.

At Rupert House, in Bell Street, a special version of their running club was held with parents and pupils attending in fancy dress.

They ran laps around the Henley Rugby Club sports pitches, choosing to run laps from 600m to 1km.

Afterwards, a handful of parents and teachers carried on the challenge with a group of about five, including headteacher Nick Armitage and marketing manager Jenny Ovstedal, completing 25km.

Another group ran 15km and a number of parents set off on a walk around town.

Mr Armitage said: “A group of us carried on and did 5km around Henley and back to the school and then a group of us carried on and did 10km down by the river to by the Flower Pot in Aston. Then we did another 5km and extended it running up the Fair Mile.”

Mr Armitage said he was motivated along the way by those around him and the thought of radio DJ Sarah Cox who, at the time, was completing her own challenge.

Cox raised £9 million for Children in Need by running from the Kielder forest in Northumberland to Pudsey in West Yorkshire, a challenge which comprised five marathons in five days.

He said: “It was great to do it for charity so that motivated people to go along and it was great to have time to chat to people who were running.

“I was thinking about Sarah Cox and what she was going through at the same time and that put it into perspective. While we were running, there was a group that did a walk between them and they got absolutely soaked. At least we were running so we were quite warm.”

Mr Armitage said that the wet conditions did not deter the school’s pupils who set themselves a number of personal challenges throughout the day in aid of the cause.

Many of these centred around the theme of 25 to mark the year and included running laps round the playing field, learning a word in
25 languages, and for one Year 6 pupil, Jasper Hayes, learning Pi to 25 decimals, which he completed and increased to 100. Through its JustGiving page and sponsorship forms, the school has raised £2,646 for Children in Need with more pledges due to come in.

One of the school’s former pupils, Othello Forbes, who is in his first year at Reading Blue Coat school in Sonning, has decided to take on the 22km Maverick race at Stonor later this month to raise money for the school’s fundraising page.

At Trinity, in Vicarage Road, pupils made a donation to wear their pyjamas to school, an idea conceived by the school council.

Students and staff also wore odd socks to promote anti-bullying.

The school reached its fundraising target of £500, raising nearly £600 for the cause.

Year 5 teacher Grace Kirton said that, in the afternoon, children watched videos explaining more about Children in Need.

She said: “I think it’s really important for the children to understand where the money’s going.

“There are some children in our school who are young carers themselves.

“For the children who might not necessarily know it’s just seeing how much other children are going through and putting it into perspective as well as a fun way of doing it.” Trinity headteacher Charlotte Whittle said the day went “really well”.

She said: “We had a wonderful collection.

“The children did some of the activities on the Children in Need website and learnt about where all our donations are going.”

In addition to odd socks she said the school held an assembly to promote anti-bullying where they read the book Today I’m Strong by The Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain.

“It’s about speaking up for yourself,” Ms Whittle said. “It’s really important for us to celebrate differences that we have.”

Children at St Mary’s school in St Andrew’s Road raised nearly £2,000 by wearing their own clothes to school.

Headteacher Stephen Blundell is set to take on his own challenge for the cause and will be rowing 100km on an ergo in one sitting next month.

Mr Blundell, who is set to complete the row on Wednesday, December 17, said he had chosen 100km also as a nod to the school’s centenary which it is set to celebrate in 2026.

Mr Blundell, who took over as headteacher last year, has estimated to take to take around eight hours to
complete.