Smile Week 2024 a huge success!

Last month, the Senior Student Team organised a fantastic week full of events and fancy dress in order to raise money for the charity Smile Malawi.  As a school, we managed to raise a fantastic £3,150, beating last year’s grand total!

The week consisted of five dress up days – Midnight Monday, Teams Tuesday, When I Grow Up Wednesday, Thousand Years Thursday and Famous Friday – which the year 12s and 13s took by storm!

The week also included lunchtime events which main school students were able to watch. Monday kicked off with University Challenge, with the English and History departments competing to win it all! On Tuesday, Teacher Taskmaster saw numerous teachers partaking in silly tasks to win the competition. It was a very popular event and it was very entertaining to see a different side to the teachers that we spend every day with.

On Wednesday there was no lunchtime event, but instead, the evening was bustling with talent as the annual Vandyke’s Got Talent event took place. Student band Dynasty took the title but we were treated to some fantastic performances from many different acts. We truly got to see what talent our school is made up of and, trust me, there’s a lot. We also raised £318 for Willen Hospice.

Thursday saw Dress to Impress, a Roblox inspired event where sixth formers and teachers got to strut their stuff down the catwalk for the audience and a judging panel. Isaac and Erin in Y13 took the first priza dressed a cowboys, with two other sixth formers taking 2nd and 3rd place. It was a newer concept developed by the Senior Student Team, but main school students really loved this idea, as Roblox is played by many kids/teens across the country and globally.

And Friday drew to a close with the teacher Dance/Lip Sync battle. It was boys vs. girls – with the boys doing Bye Bye Bye by *NSYNC and the girls doing HOTTOGO by Chappel Roan. The girls won, continuing their yearly streak, and entertaining the whole crowd with their dance moves and tricks.

All the proceeds from these events (except Vandyke’s Got Talent), plus student fundraising across the school with things such as selling Krispy Kreme donuts and selling sweets, are going to the SMILE Malawi charity. For those who aren’t aware of what the charity does, it helps to provide children in Malawi with a chance to get an education and other aid that they may need. It helps them develop a community amongst the children and therefore improves the future of young ones. The proceeds in the past have contributed to things such as the building of a school and providing school supplies for the children to learn from.

We as a school have supported SMILE Malawi for many years now and every year it is a great honour to raise money for them, knowing that we’re improving the lives and futures of children.

We really appreciate the contributions and the effort that the Senior Student Team and the Sixth Form have put into this fun week of raising money and organising events. Charity is something we as a school value and we are so grateful for having a worthy cause to contribute to. We look forward to seeing what next year’s Senior Student Team plans to do next year.

A full album of photographs from Smile Week can be found on our Facebook page.

By Nicole K-B, Y13