Seaside Summer Success!

To celebrate the arrival of summer, we brought the beach to East Dulwich! We welcomed hundreds of kids, parents and neighbours to our seaside-themed fair and raised a whopping £3,500 for the school – in just three hours!

With face-painting, a nail bar, a bouncy castle, and lots of games of skill to test their wits, the kids were kept happy and busy. The arts and craft stall was heaving with eager artists, and the slimy gloop of the lucky dip had them squealing for joy. We had guessing games to test the grey matter and now know how much a bucket of sand weighs, and how many sweets fit in a jar. We also had a chance to guess what Ms Conduit would name the very cute mermaid knitted by one fabulous Harris granny.

In 2018, we found out how amazingly popular a Jolly Jar tombola could be so this was reprieved for 2019 – bigger, better and even more in demand!

And no-one went hungry or thirsty. A band of Harris dads teamed up to deliver delicious barbecued burgers and hotdogs, kindly sponsored by our local butcher, William Rose. The kids’ bar kept everyone hydrated and there were two cupcake stalls selling an awesome array of home baked goodies. Special shout out to Scarlett in year 3 who set up and ran a very popular sweet stall, single-handedly raising £56!

And for the grown-ups, we had not one but TWO bars: generous helpings of Pimms from one corner of the playground and Sarah’s Bar on the other shifting huge volumes of beer, prosecco and jelly shots.

Our raffle prizes were some of our best yet: star prizes included a pair of sapphire earrings from Lila’s Jewels on Lordship Lane, tickets to the cricket World Cup at Lords, and a brand-new adult bike. There were over 50 prizes in total, spreading the good luck far and wide across the school community.

And finally, to the ‘thank yous’: Reception mum, Sarah Veness, organised the whole thing and made sure everything went smoothly on the day. We salute your epic organisational skills! We were very touched by the support of the ‘big kids’ from Harris Boys and Harris Girls secondary schools, who helped to run the face painting stall and the penalty shoot-out. And hats off to the 40 parent volunteers who gave up their time in the run up and on the day. They canvassed local businesses for raffle prizes, they designed flyers, they baked, they knitted, they filled jolly jam jars, and they stood in the blazing sun making sure everyone had a great time. What a brilliant team!