Charity Update

Our chosen charities for the 2023 – 2024 school session were Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS) in the Primary School and Cure Leukaemia UK in the Secondary School.

However, both our junior and senior schools worked together on a number of fundraising events to raise as much for both charities as well as our combined whole school event Liv4Daniel, which raised almost £38,000 across the weekend for Cure Leukaemia and Doing It For Daniel.

Through a pupil vote, our junior pupils chose to fundraise for CHAS and we were pleased to continue with the work started in session 2022-2023 for the senior school charity, Cure Leukaemia UK. This cause remained one that resonated deeply for our community as one of our own pupils, Liv (S3), was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2020.

We were all also deeply affected by the loss of Daniel Caplan, in 2020, when he was in S6, following his diagnosis of an aggressive brain tumour called DMG/DIPG (Diffuse midline glioma).

The Hutchesons’ community is a close one, and as with a lot of communities, adversity brings the community together, and pupils, staff, parents and our wider Hutchie community, have worked hard to raise money this session. It has been a real labour of love, and we have made a real connection with the charities and the causes.

We are so very grateful to everyone who contributed to raising awareness and much needed funds.

Primary School

In our junior School, pupils have raised a staggering £11,100 for CHAS. Fundraising highlights efforts included a Toy Sale which not only rasied £640, but gave many toys a new home. The Eco-Committees Annual Swap Shop also repurposed unwanted clothing, embracing our sustainability values and raising £200. 89 pupils, parents, carers and friends, joined the Kiltwalk in April and raised an incredible £4,868, with Zoya (P6) contributing £756 through her own fundraising. Pupils enjoyed the P7 fundraiser and raised over £1,350.

Secondary School

Senior School highlights included Houses hosting a variety of events across the session. Stuart House held a pancake morning, a football tournament and a Taylor Swift disco. Even the Easter bunny visited to give lucky pupils a golden ticket to skip the lunch queue. Lochiel House were very busy with a Candy Cane raffle, a football match, Treepong, and Haris and Hamza in S6 enjoyed a very reserved charity sponsored hair-cut. The Lochiel House Captains organised a Lip Sync Battle which saw S6 win a very well-deserved first place despite some serious competition from staff. Our Argyll House pupils raised money in a variety of ways including an Easter Egg Raffle, egg and Scavenger hunt, and a guess the number of sweeties in the jar. Finally, in Montrose House, there were Candy Cane deliveries, guess the sweets in the jar and wearing an item of pink clothing to symbolize awareness-raising. A number of pupils and staff made jewellery to sell and teachers were able to book a whiteboard cleaning service for a charity donation – most helpful! Final total amount raised in the Secondary School to be announced in due course.

Find out more about each of our incredible charities and the work they do:
* Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS) visit www.chas.org.uk
* Cure Leukaemia visit www.cureleukaemia.co.uk
* Doing It For Daniel visit www.doingitfordaniel.org.uk