Charities at Kirby Hill Primary School
Total Fundraising efforts this school year: £2072.07!
At Kirby Hill Primary School, we believe in extending the pupils’ education far beyond the classroom walls; a central part of our ethos is that we aim to inspire caring and compassionate children ready to face life’s challenges. We would like our pupils to be engaged with the real world and have an understanding of, and make a positive contribution towards, society. The school council plays a pivotal role in listening to pupil’s ideas, selecting charities, discussing ideas and planning fundraising events. The pupils, parents and friends of Kirby Hill Primary School support a variety of charities throughout the school year in addition to the Fairtrade stall that the Fairtrade Committee run every week (25/26 total so far =£364).
Year of Reading: Reading Celebration Day
To launch the Year of Reading, our school council led a fundraiser to raise money for new books for school. The whole school had a wonderful day celebrating reading! We began the day with a shared reading breakfast with parents and carers and ended with a House Team Big Read. The children were very cosy in their PJs and comfortable clothes. Our School Council is excited to choose which books to spend this year’s reading budget on.
We also used the day to launch our whole-school BOOKFLIX reading challenge. This is the first of a series of challenges throughout the year designed to spark excitement about reading. The challenge is accessible to all children, no matter their reading level.
A huge thank you as well to everyone who has donated books to top up our lending library! There are some fantastic choices in there, so please do take a look!
Total= £77.30
Year 6 Junior Business Challenge
Over the Autumn 2 term, Year 6 were busy developing their entrepreneurial skills through a range of fantastic business projects. They have sold their products at various events, after school, and in other locations. Throughout the process, the children have overcome challenges, carefully considered their target markets, and worked extremely hard. We are so pleased that their efforts have paid off, as they have collaboratively raised an impressive £618.40 - an amazing achievement! This money will be split between a local cause, a chosen charity, a treat for the school and a treat for our budding business owners!
This week, the children were challenged to present their business journey to a panel of judges. Five of our wonderful governors formed the judging panel, offering encouragement and asking thoughtful questions that allowed the children to truly shine. The governors were extremely enthusiastic about the project and were delighted to be involved.
The children delivered confident and engaging presentations in a variety of formats, including PowerPoints, speeches, and videos. The judges were completely blown away by the creativity, teamwork, professionalism, and the impressive amount of money raised. Mrs Garner and I were particularly thrilled to hear the children reflect on the skills they had developed throughout the journey, including resilience, creativity, financial literacy, and independence. Most importantly, it was clear that they had fun along the way, even when the work was challenging.
The children showed wonderful support for one another, and every single child played an important role in the success of the project. We are incredibly proud of Year 6 entrepreneurs and look forward to seeing how they choose to celebrate their success and support local causes and charity projects.
Christmas Music Video for Yorkshire Cancer Research
This Christmas, our Digital Leaders and House Captains worked incredibly hard to bring a festive music video to life and my office became their daily planning studio and festive fancy dress storeroom! They did all of this with a very special purpose: supporting Yorkshire Cancer Research, a charity dedicated to funding lifesaving research to prevent cancer, ensure early diagnosis, and provide the best treatments in our region.
The children spent their lunchtimes brainstorming creative ideas, scouting locations, planning shots, and persuading adults to dance (I’m certain Strictly Come Dancing may call any day now!) All their hard work meant the children achieved their first aim: to make people smile this Christmas.
Thanks to the children’s creativity, dedication, and the generosity of our school community, we have currently
raised £780 – far exceeding our original target of £100! When the children heard the total,
their faces lit up, and their first words were simply: “Thank you!”
A huge thank you to everyone who watched, shared, or donated. To watch the video please follow the following link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/kirbyhillchristmas
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Foodbank Fridays – A School Council Initiative
Led by our School Council, the children came up with the idea of Foodbank Fridays - a weekly challenge where each class is encouraged to bring in donations for our local food banks. These generous contributions support both the church community food bank and Ripon Community House Foodbank. Each week, the School Council delivers part of the collection to the church, while one of our school governors ensures the rest reaches Ripon Community House.
To raise awareness, the School Council launched a poster competition, and after many wonderful entries, a fantastic design by a Year 3 pupil was chosen and digitised. Our food bank has regularly overflowed thanks to the children’s generosity, with many even using their own pocket money to buy extra items.
To kick off the initiative, the School Council also led a heartfelt collective worship, sharing the importance of giving and offering helpful tips to inspire everyone to get involved.
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WWF Fundraising Campaign - Dress as an animal
Inspired by a collective worship and her passion for protecting the planet, a pupil in Year 6 shared a persuasive speech with the Headteacher encouraging the school to support WWF. Her brilliant idea became reality on Friday 28th March, when Kirby Hill School celebrated Earth Day with a “Dress as an Animal Day” to raise money for WWF.
From cat ears to full animal costumes, the school was transformed into a zoo of creativity and colour! Thanks to her efforts, we also enjoyed a special virtual assembly from WWF, who kindly delivered it for free in recognition of our pupil's initiative. This gave our pupils a wonderful chance to ask questions and learn more about how we can all help protect the world’s wildlife.
We are thrilled to share that together we raised a fantastic £80.31 for WWF. 🎉 Every single contribution – from 10p to £2 - really did make a difference.
A huge well done to our very own courageous advocate for inspiring us all, and thank you to everyone who joined in to make the day such a success. 
See below for our contributions towards different charities.
Christmas Tree Festival
Children attending the After School Club demonstrated their crafting to make a shoebox tree for their entry in the children's category at St James's Church, Boroughbridge Christmas Tree Festival, December 2025. This was viewed by and brought pleasure to many hundreds of visitors over the weekend. Funds raised at the event help support the local Boroughbridge Community Care organisation.
Rotary ShoeBoxes
Thank you to everyone who part in this year’s Rotary Shoebox Appeal. This year, Peter Thompson who represents the club collected them with thanks and let us know he is hoping to send them to Ukraine. We had a total of 18 shoeboxes and these will be given directly to children in need. Thank you once again for your generosity and thank you to Mrs Williamson for organising this in school.
Children in Need: Year 4 Bun Sale and Own Clothes
We rasied a super £174.50 for Children in Need. Year 4 were superstars and baked lots of lovely treats to sell at our coffee morning and afterschool - super effort!
Poppy Appeal
£74 was collected by pupils, through the sale of poppies at our school this November, in support of the Royal British Legion appeal. A remarkable overall district total of £12,500 was raised.
Wear Yellow Day
Out Wellbeing Warriors led a day of awareness to raise money for YoungMinds. In total we raised £86.34!
Ripon Community House and Harrogate Homeless Project
For Harvest, children were invited to bring to school donations of food to celebrate Harvest Festival thanksgiving. These were donated to Ripon Community House and Harrogate Homeless Project. They aim to provide food or to offer support with whatever difficulties anyone may be facing. They, and we, really appreciate and are grateful for the kindness and generosity of our families.
Macmillan Coffee Morning
In September 2025 our YR5/6 class hosted an epic coffee morning, inviting friends, family and members of our local school community to raise funds for everyone effected by cancer. A fabulous amount of £244.03 was raised in support of this charity.
Non-Uniform Day
We had an absolutely fantastic non-uniform day in February, where our pupils got to dress up as a word that describes them! It was amazing to see the creativity and thoughtfulness on display as children chose words that reflected their personalities. We were thrilled to raise £116.80 for our chosen charity Place2Be.
First Steps 2 School - Peru
A Pyjama Day was held on November 10th when pupils paid 50p to wear their pyjamas to school. The School Council, along with the support of the rest of Year6 also organised games for the children to play at play time. An amazing amount of £98.43 was raised to be donated to the school in Peru.
Football Shirt Friday
In April our pupils came to school wearing a football shirt of their choice. to show support for the Bobby Moore foundation trust in aid of cancer research. We saw a huge array of tops from different football teams from around the UK and the world. A fantastic amount of £110.10 was raised.
Christingle Service
In December a group of pupils attended and participated in the Christingle Service at All Saints Church, Kirby Hill, having made their Christingles in school. The service raises funds for The Children's Society.
Ukraine Crisis
On Friday 11th March 2022 pupils dressed in blue and yellow, (the colours of the flag of Ukraine), to show their support for those in crisis in Ukraine. The very generous amount of £280.50 was donated by our families to aid humanitarian work.
Children with Cancer UK
We have some budding entrepreneurs and philanthropists in Oak class with some of our children using their ‘Golden Time’ to raise money for charity! We have enjoyed watching and helping them come up with ideas; consider the cost to produce an item and evaluate what it could retail at. A child organised a cake stall and two other children created top trump style cards and sold these to their peers. The children raised an amazing £40.75 and decided that they would like the money to go to a Children’s Cancer Charity. Watch out Alan Sugar! imagine what they will achieve in the future!
Red Nose Day
Children came to school on Friday 19th March 2021 wearing something red in support of Comic Relief. An amazing amount of £156.00 was raised for Comic Relief.
YR5 Cake Stall
In March 2024 our YR5 Children organised and ran their own bake sale to raise money for the YMCA and managed to collect a whopping £87.72.
First Steps 2 School - Peru
The School Council, on behalf of their peers, chose to start a fundraising campaign to help provide essential learning equipment and resources for a nursery in Peru. Some of our local residents are trustees for the charity and they visit the nursery in Peru on a regular basis. Our children were so moved by the difference that this nursery if making to the lives of the children there that they wanted to contribute towards it. The School Council held a cake sale on 5th July and managed to raise over £70. The trustees came into school to collect the money and to say thank you during Collective Worship.