Roedean School
Ukrainian Bursary Appeal
Raising funds to support 110% Bursaries to attend Roedean School for Ukrainian Refugees.
Story
Our incredible swimmers did amazingly with their swim, and raised almost £7,000 for the Ukraine Bursary appeal. We are have now launched the main appeal, and thank you for your continued support.
**Update**
Congratulations to Bella, Clara, Liv, Rose, Amy and Jemima - what an amazing achievement! The girls completed their swim on 15th-16th June, taking 13 hours and 13 minutes, swimming through the night from 11pm. The hours of training, and time spent acclimatising to the cold water and building their endurance, laid the foundations for this outstanding achievement. Throughout their training and the swim itself, they were brilliantly supported by their friends and family, Dr Hobbs, Miss Wakeling and Mr Serafimov. Thank you to everyone who has supported them.
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We are so excited for our team of 6 sea-swimmers who will be setting off from Dover next week to be the first team from a UK girls' school to be swimming the Channel via relay.
This is a huge undertaking, and the team - made up of pupils from Years 8, 9, 10, 11 and Sixth Form - have been training hard, including an intensive training week over half term with a special programme created by Director of Sport at Roedean, Miss Wakeling.
The training included a night swim, swimming during the tide change, and battling against strong waves. During the Channel swim, each girl will swim on rotation for an hour each, doing a minimum of 28 miles.
We couldn't be more proud of this resilient, determined group of swimmers, and even more so as they have asked to raise sponsorship from their swim in aid of our Ukrainian Bursary Appeal.
In the words of Head Girl, and Channel Swim team member, Jemima:
My team members and I are really excited about our Channel swim next week. We are also really keen that this is an opportunity to help raise funds for charity, and so when Mrs Chaston mentioned that the School will soon be launching an appeal to help provide 110% bursaries to Ukrainian pupils, it felt like the perfect fit. We really hope that our swim can help raise money to support our future fellow Roedeanians.
When Ukraine was invaded I, along with the whole student body, felt shock, horror and disbelief- but most of all, we felt so helpless as we watched the atrocities unfold. I wondered what we could do, as a school community, blessed as we are with such beautiful, peaceful surroundings and, along with fellow prefects, initiated the sunflower appeal to raise funds for refugees fleeing to Moldova, as we have a Moldovan student here at the school. And now, as Head Girl, I know I speak for all the students when I say that we are so happy at the prospect of welcoming Ukrainian pupils to Roedean in September. We hope that with time in our nurturing community, they will eventually find some peace and joy returning to their lives, after experiencing such traumatic experiences in their childhood years.
Please do consider sponsoring our swim and helping to kick start the appeal. You can donate through this page or contact Mrs Grace Chaston on glc@roedean.co.uk or 01273 667398.