Year 7 were well-prepared for the challenge of sleeping overnight on the Junior School Playground and arrived for school on Friday morning with their kit and some very ambitious cardboard box constructions. A real highlight of the evening was seeing the pupils setting up their boxes on the playground. We were very impressed by their creative efforts, which included a large castle and a camouflage creation, fitted with sunroof and insulation!

Excitement was high throughout the evening, as Year 7 completed a carousel of challenges and activities run by the staff, including dodgeball, football, a quiz, soft-ball, LEGO in the well-being hub and a cosy sing-song around the camp-fire, courtesy of Mr Soper.

A Chapel Service at 10.45pm offered an opportunity for pupils to pause and reflect on the cause and the charity that our Sleep Out supports. We were fortunate to have two visiting speakers from Helping Hands who spoke to Year 7 about homelessness and the work that they do to support those in need in the local community and talk about their lives and how they were affected by being homeless. After the talk, Year 7 were given time to ask questions about the charity and our speakers commented on their thoughtfulness and engagement in the issues raised.

Soup was served by Mr Barker at 11.30pm before the pupils got settled into their boxes for the challenge of a night sleeping out.

Luckily, clear skies meant that Year 7 got some sleep (or at least what sounded like sleep). They went home in great spirits after breakfast and the deconstruction of their cardboard creations, which were then recycled.

Many thanks to the pupils who participated in the 2023 Sleep Out. Thanks too, to the staff who supervised it and ran fantastic activities; to the Estates team for their help, and to our catering team, who generously provided superb food for the pupils, with snacks, fantastic meals and of course, late night soup. We are hoping that the event will have raised over £2,500 for Helping Hands Community Project.

We also ran a separate collection to donate items directly to the helping-hands charity. These were delivered on Monday morning and were hugely appreciated by the charity.