The Grow a Pound project, now in its eighth year, has raised over £3,000 for Humanitas charity – our highest amount to date. The initiative is designed to encourage each child throughout the school to discover and develop their entrepreneurial skills, by converting the £1 they are each given into more money for charity.
Over the Easter holidays, the children brought home their £1 and they had until the start of the Summer term to grow this pound into more money, through whichever way they decided. The original £1 is donated by the School to Humanitas and the children had the option of returning their pound as part of the total contribution via the Just Giving page.
Through Grow a Pound, we support the Ayensuako School in Ghana, which is run by Humanitas. St John’s has had close links with the building and resourcing of the primary school and we are now supporting their new secondary school. This year Humanitas is also supporting aid work in Ukraine. Miss Anne Orange, teacher and Senior House Charities Committee Organiser, commented, “We are delighted with the number of families who got involved with this year’s initiative as well as the ingenious ways in which the children raised money from their £1.”
This year’s ‘Grow a Pound’ efforts have seen children throughout the school raise money through ingenious schemes such as cake baking, making and selling bird seed balls and sunflower plants, weeding gardens and washing cars. One Byron House fundraiser said “I washed cars for my family and friends and I felt good getting the cars clean and raising money too.” Another ‘entrepreneur’ enthused, “I used the £1 I had been given to decorate eggshells to sell. I am happy that some of the money goes to those who are in Ukraine.”
