Charity
Charity at Altwood:
‘As Christians, we’re called to reflect God’s love and kindness in all that we do. Whether in our families, communities or in the wider world, our faith is rooted in acts of compassion and grace.’ Christian Aid March 2025
As a school, we have decided to support two charities, one local and one global, both of which align with our school values. Our community charity is Thames Hospice, and our global charity is Street Kids Direct, Guatemala. Our approach is to promote charitable giving, encouraging student involvement in fundraising activities, and fostering a sense of responsibility towards others, both locally and globally.
Both these charities work to understand the needs of the people they are supporting. They both demonstrate our ethos of knowing and valuing those who they help. Both offer hope, Street Kids directly to the young people they support and Thames Hospice to the families as well as the patient. Thames Hospice aim to bring joy to those who are receiving end of life care and memories for those left behind. Joy is evident in the children who gain an education and become successful young adults after the care and support offered by SKD. Both have faith that they can make a difference.
A key part of our charity work is educating and empowering students. Speakers from both charities visit the school to explain their work and how charity work enables them to make a difference.
Street Kids Direct:
https://www.streetkidsdirect.org.uk/
Vision & Mission
Vision:
To see no more street-living children worldwide.
Mission:
To promote the reality of street-living children.
To create a map and headcount of street-living children worldwide.
To fundraise to alleviate their suffering and rescue them from the streets.
To provide support, training and advice to our project partners.
To prevent more children from taking the steps towards street life.
Faith:
At the heart of all we do is our Christian Faith.
Our faith in Jesus motivates our actions and enables us to trust that what we do will bring about positive changes in individuals' lives.
We believe that as Christians we should endeavour to treat every individual how Jesus did - with love and respect.
As part of our faith, we believe that our strength in Jesus allows us to go the extra mile, suffering alongside the most vulnerable and being a source of dependable love in a time of need.
Altwood’s connection to SKD:
In 2023 Duncan Dyason, founder of SKD, connected with the school through Father Jeremy and Rev. Jo. This connection led to Altwood working with SKD as our Global charity. Duncan visited the UK from Guatemala with a young man, Danilo. He was due to speak at All Saints Church about his work. Duncan and Danilo visited Altwood as part of their UK visit, presenting assemblies, explaining their work and sharing Danilo’s story. This connection led to the now annual Rough Sleep project. Sixth form students sacrifice their modern comforts to sleep rough for one night to raise money for SKD. The Rough Sleep project is shared with All Saints and St Peter’s parishioners as well as the school’s parent body leading to combined sponsorship. SKD are a mission partner of St Peter’s Church.
The SKD Rough Sleep initiative is now entering its fourth year and we have benefitted from welcoming Duncan back for updates.
Thames Hospice:
Quality of life, to the end of life, for everyone
Thames Hospice has been proudly serving the community of East Berkshire and South Buckinghamshire for more than 36 years, working in partnership with local healthcare colleagues to provide specialist palliative and end-of-life care services to people aged 16 and over in their own homes and within the Hospice.
Thames Hospice has launched "Trunks across the Thames": A majestic elephant art trail set to transform Windsor and Slough in 2026 as part of its fundraising campaign. We are proudly adopting an elephant demonstrating our support of this invaluable charity. During an assembly it was shared that £39,000 had to be raised per day to continue the work they do. Thames Hospice is free at the point of entry providing a lifeline to many families.
Thames Hospice was selected by staff and students based on personal experiences of how members of our community have been supported by this charity.
Other projects:
Whilst we have two main charities that form the backbone of whole school fundraising, we welcome students and staff having additional projects throughout the year. Examples include the Year 10 community challenge project supporting the Brett foundation and odd sock Friday to support the British Liver Foundation.