Simon Guillebaud, Whitby and Quiz Night

On Monday morning, we were delighted to welcome Simon Guillebaud to our school. Simon Guillebaud was awarded an MBE by the Queen in 2018 for services to development in Burundi. He is the founder and International Director of Great Lakes Outreach (GLO), a Christian charity working in war-torn Central Africa. As part of his assembly, he shared this video with the children https:// vimeo.com/229584971. Simon is a truly inspirational speaker who talks with such passion about his work and his faith, that he soon had the whole school wanting to get involved and support his charities work in Burundi.

After the assembly, he spoke with the Year 6 children about his work in more depth and shared some of the extremely harrowing and inspiring stories of the people he has met and worked with. He talked about his faith and his love of God with great openness and it was such a powerful message for our school. So, we have two options here – we either remember Simon’s assembly now and then or we do something for Burundi! £600 will buy us a cow or £800 will build a house for a widow and her family. We have set up a Parentmail for Simon’s charity where, if you feel drawn to supporting his work in Burundi, you can make a donation.

I have met with the House Captains today and, this year we are raising money for the Year 6 weekend trip to Whitby (where we will explore the beautiful coastline, surf and so much more) and for the charity Centrepoint. We have decided we will also give a portion of the money raised to Simon’s charity. The House Captains have various events planned throughout the year to raise money, which will kick off with them organising ‘The Great St Stephen’s Drinks Party’ on Thursday 12th December from 7.30pm (more on that later). They first job will be organising the canapés!

We marked Remembrance Day with a special assembly led by Mr. Perry, who chose two children to read out their poems on war and we then bowed our heads to mark the two minutes silence. The assembly was moving and thoughtful with the children taking the time to remember those who gave their lives for us and why we wear poppies.

Thank you to FOSS for organising such a super Quiz Night and to Jamie for being the most superb quizmaster. The puddings were scrumptious and the questions challenging – a perfect combination! Now on to the Christmas Fair, which is next Saturday 30th November, please come and join in the fun on the day! Buy some raffle tickets (absolutely amazing prizes), purchase the children’s school made goodies and raise a glass or two of mulled wine!