Charities

Charitable giving and community involvement are a vital part of the Godstowe ethos. The school aims to impart the shared values of tolerance towards others, respect for the environment, personal responsibility, and the understanding of right and wrong, so that our pupils may become valued members of the community in which they live. 

As part of their education and school life, Godstowe pupils become involved in charitable giving at an early age, and continue to  contribute to their local community and the wider world in many different ways throughout their school career. To be appointed a Charity Monitor in the Fourths is much prized among the girls.

Godstowe is proud to support a variety of national and local charities. Since 2020, despite the restrictions of the pandemic, Godstowe has donated over £20,000 to the following causes: 

• Ongoing sponsorship of the Godstowe Common Room, presently under construction in the Sucheta Kriplani Shiksha Niketan (SKSN), a residential school for disabled children in India that we have supported over the last five years.
• The Children’s Society
• Macmillan
• Wycombe Homeless Connection
• Wycombe Refugee Partnership - Christmas gifts for several refugee families in the local area.
• Wash bags funded and purchased for all pupils at SKSN school in India
• Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children
• Mares Community Farm in Amersham
• Christian Aid
• SKSN Tractor fund
•  Children In Need via Comic Relief
• Two vans were stocked with donations of medical supplies and nappies, formula etc and driven to Ukraine 
• The One Can Trust - a regular weekly donation from the Godstowe community in the ‘Two Can Tuesday’ fundraising initiative.
• Harvest Festival
• Poppy Appeal

These funds were raised through challenge events, mufti days,    cake sales, competitions, the donation of fresh produce and poster design; the children are encouraged to come up with ever more fundraising suggestions. In addition, the advent of websites such as JustGiving has made it very easy and safe to donate online. 

Current guidance from the Charities Commission outlines our duties  to schools overseas for families or individuals who cannot afford to pay for education. The Cansdale Scholarship was established in 2021 and supports a pupil from SKSN who was first helped by Godstowe back in 2017. We are now, with the generous assistance of the Friends Of Godstowe Parents Association, sponsoring her, in order that she may realise her ambition to become a teacher herself.

We have a duty to support our community and Godstowe is very keen to work with local schools. As a result, pupils from Hamilton Primary School benefit from the use of our state-of-the-art swimming pool for their weekly lessons. The children are also regular visitors during our extra-curricular Post-CE programme, when girls in the Fourths design and administer their programme of activities.

Godstowe is constantly open to new ways to fundraise and worthwhile ventures and charities to support; suggestions are welcome from all quarters of our community.