Education Today Education Today Magazine
On Thursday 30 June, Bede’s Prep School held their annual whole school sponsored walk, this year raising money for the Royal British Legion, and in particular Mais House – a care home in Bexhill-on-Sea. This is a wonderful annual school event, one which all members of the Bede’s Prep School community look forward to. This year, it involved 230 children (between Years 2 and 8) and 25 members of staff walking across the South Downs. All pupils and staff wore colourful t-shirts and created quite a striking sight walking across the Eastbourne coastline!
In previous years, Bede’s has raised money for charities such as Raystede Animal Welfare (In 2019, they raised over £4,000), Beachy Head Chaplaincy, Water Aid and many more. So far, the school have raised a phenomenal £4,760.90 for Mais House – and counting!
At Bede’s, ‘compassion’ is one of the school’s key values. This is embedded in much of the pupils’ activities, both inside and outside of the classroom. The pupils are always eager to get behind a variety of charitable endeavours throughout the year. The Royal British Legion, and Mais House, have been carefully selected as a local RBL home for retired veterans and their dependents. It is one of only six Royal British Legion poppy homes and the residents all have incredible stories. Bede’s pupils learnt about the residents prior to the sponsored walk. The oldest resident is 103! 29 residents served in World War Two, one of which flew spitfires and others who were in the bomber squadron. Incredibly, one resident worked on the enigma code at Bletchley Park and even translated something personally for Winston Churchill!
On the day, the weather was glorious (unlike some years!) which made it even more pleasant. Bede’s Prep School Teacher and organiser of this event, Miriam Mcdonell comments, “The walk was glorious! The sun shone and we even had a spitfire trailing us across the Downs for most of our walk, delighting us all with victory rolls. Extremely appropriate given the people we were walking for! To finish, pupils and staff enjoyed a lovely picnic in the Hollow, followed by an impromptu playtime and then the short trek back to school. A very successful and happy morning!”
Bede’s Prep School Headmaster, Mark Hammond, is extremely proud of his pupils’ efforts to raise money for such a worthy, local cause. He comments, “This sponsored walk was a lovely way to end the term, and the pupils have made a magnificent effort in raising £4,760 for a local Royal British Legion poppy home, Mais House. Well done everyone on this incredible effort!”
