11/06/20 – Good News from Croydon High

Riya’s Fundraiser

After a haircut in January, Riya in Year 5 donated her hair to Little Princess Trust. This organisation provides free, real hair wigs to children and young people up to 24 years of age who have lost their hair due to cancer treatments or other conditions.

Riya not only donated her hair but also asked people to support her act by donating to Little Princess Trust. She recently received a certificate of thanks from the organisation, for having raised £2,672!

Here is what Riya had to say about her fundraiser on her Just Giving page:

“I am going to cut my hair for my older sister Sheena. I want to donate it to Little Princess Trust so they can make a wig out of it for people who need it. I really hope my hair comes in good use for someone who needs it.”

Baking Club – Pride Month

This week, Mrs Turner and the two guest judges, Mr Flower and Mr Thorpe, were blown away by the creative and – in some cases – complex entries made for Baking Club. The theme this week was ‘A Bake Inspired by Pride’, which Croydon High is celebrating this month and so there were a myriad of colourful rainbow entries.

It was so difficult to decide on a winner, so in the end we had three entries in first place! The winners had some lovely stories about how some family members were part of the LGBTQ+ community and so they wanted to bake their cake for them, others showed some exceptional video editing skills in the finished entry and had gone the extra mile in hand-making a banner that sat on top of the cake, whilst others had some really intricate designs of which the Maths Department would have been proud. Perhaps my favourite entries were the ‘explosion’ cakes where there was a stack of Smarties and M&Ms hidden in a secret middle core of the cakes, so that when they were sliced open, a river of rainbow coloured chocolate came forth! Thank you to all who entered – we really appreciate that it takes imagination, time, and a lot of effort to make these beautiful bakes. Roll on next week…

Nursery Return to the School Site

The Nursery pupils were very excited to join us back in school this week. We have spent lots of our time outside, enjoying the wonderful grounds and quite warm weather! We have been learning all about the Queen, making her a bracelet using wild flowers, practising our curtsies, and building castles. We were very proud to wear our crowns, drawing many shapes on them and sticking on real jewels! We even marched up and down the hill just like the Grand Old Duke of York, singing as we marched. And it’s a special treat to have our lunch and snacks outside – very exciting! It’s like having a picnic every day.

Virtual Summer Show – Now Live!

We have great pleasure in inviting you to visit Croydon High School’s first ever Virtual Art Exhibition, marking the achievements of our Art and 3D Design GCSE Class of 2020.

The Summer Show is always a highlight of the Senior School year and at one stage, we were thinking that it may not be able to go ahead in any form in 2020, for the obvious reasons. The exhibition would simply not have been possible without the significant skills and effort of Mr Bishop, who worked so hard with Mrs Smith to bring the event alive digitally.

The exhibition is not just a celebration of the girls’ efforts and talents, of course, but also the whole Art Department, inspirationally led by Mrs Smith.

Thanks also go to Mr Suranyi and the Music GCSE students, whose performances bring such a wonderful atmosphere to the event, just as they would have done had we been in school.

To enter the exhibition, please follow this link. We hope you enjoy it and congratulations to our students and their teachers.

Altruism and Longer Lives

Volunteering could be the key to living longer lives, suggests new research by Harvard University. Their study of 13,000 adults in the US showed that individuals over the age of 50 who regularly volunteered for two hours a week or more enjoyed a notably reduced risk of mortality and developing physical impairments, and better wellbeing overall.

American Journal of Preventive Medicine

Inquiry into Structural Racism

The Equality and Human Rights Commission will be conducting an inquiry into “long-standing, structural race inequality in Britain”. This is welcome news following recent events surrounding the murder of George Floyd in the US and the knowledge that people from BAME backgrounds are disproportionately affected by Covid-19.

Equality and Human Rights Commission

A Greener Future

As we’ve all been enjoying the benefits of cleaner air during lockdown, businesses and organisations are calling on the UK government to use this as an opportunity to create long-lasting change for the environment and invest in a greener future. More than 200 companies – including Lloyds Bank – have joined this call to action.

The Independent