There are some moments at Withington when the school exceeds even the best of expectations and hopes and Citizenship Day on Wednesday 26th June was one such occasion. The theme for this year’s Citizenship Day was ‘Shared Purpose’, with Withington pupils, staff and parents working together as a school community to spend a day making a difference to the wider community.

Headmistress, Mrs Sarah Haslam, said: “With the exception of those on study leave, all girls in the school from Juniors to Seniors took part. The Juniors gave their first of four joy-filled performances of an outstanding Lion King production for an audience with many senior citizens who were also treated to a wonderful tea party by our Year 7 girls.

“Other Senior girls visited local primary schools to paint a mural and to volunteer in their library and reading schemes, whilst over 250 Senior girls completed the 10-mile sponsored walk.”

Mrs Haslam continued: “Much happiness was generated – along with a phenomenal £10,412 for The Christie. This is an outstanding total – possibly the biggest ever raised in one day at Withington. We are sincerely grateful for the support and encouragement of our wonderful parents – it certainly was an example of Team Withington at its very best.”

Head of PSHCE, Mrs Julia Johnston, who masterminded the whole day, said: “Thank you to the entire Withington community for making Citizenship Day 2019 such a wonderful success. Pupils, staff, parents, family and friends pulled together with ‘Shared Purpose’ to make this event very special and raised a huge amount of money for The Christie. Form 8Y raised the most – £2,246.79, an incredible amount. As a reward, they will spend a day as Sixth Formers, wearing their own clothes and using the Common Room for a day; and 7Y achieved second place, gaining 60 donations – they will have an edible treat delivered to their Form Room.

“The senior citizens invited into school to watch the Junior School production of The Lion King enjoyed a wonderful afternoon tea before the performance. The Third Form catered for their every need, and our visitors were extremely impressed with their afternoon’s entertainment.”Below is a brief overview and some photos of the various activities:

Sponsored Walk for The Christie

On the day, 256 pupils and 27 members of staff walked 10 miles along the Fallowfield Loop from School to Chorlton Water Park and back in aid of The Christie. Another aim of the walk was to improve the environment and an enthusiastic team of litter pickers filled nine large bin bags on the outward leg of the walk. Dr Smiles, who organised the litter pick, said: “We aimed to clear the area not only for the humans who use the Loop, but also for the resident wildlife. The girls were really committed to leaving behind the ideal urban habitat and worked together superbly, sharing the responsibility of the task.”

The final amount raised for The Christie was an astonishing £10, 576.85!

The Lion King Junior and a Tea Party

This year’s Citizenship Day took on a similar shape to last year when we invited Senior Citizen guests to see the Senior School production of Phantom of the Opera. This year, more than 200 people from the local area, including care homes, churches and day centres were treated to the Junior School’s production of The Lion King Junior, preceded by a tea party. In keeping with the usual tradition, Year 7 pupils created a wonderful variety of cakes, biscuits and table decorations for our visitors.

Mural Painting at St James’ CofE Primary School

For the third year in a row, a group of WGS artists took on the task of creating a large-scale mural in the grounds of a local primary school. Year 10 and 12 pupils went with Mrs Fildes to St James’ CofE Primary School in Rusholme and spent the day creating an extensive mural to add colour and interest to the playground.

Big Library Sort Out

Mrs Bowie and ten Year 10 pupils went to Old Moat Primary School to complete various tasks in the library. They wrapped over 250 books to become part of a ‘book swap’ scheme, sorted and categorised library and guided reading books. Old Moat teacher and English lead, Mrs Victoria Collier, said: “It really makes a huge difference to how our school runs, knowing that we can get this help at the end of the year rather than use precious teaching time for these jobs.  The children have more books available to them than ever – it’s really important work for our children and families!”