Pupils and their families from St Margaret’s Preparatory School in Calne are putting their best foot forward to raise money for charity despite lockdown restrictions.
The Wiltshire school was due to hold a sponsored Colour Run for The Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity this Friday, but instead have decided to hold a virtual Rainbow Run. To keep the rainbow theme alive, runners will wear brightly-coloured clothes, while some are also planning to wear face paints and adorn themselves with ribbons.
Head of Sport, Dan Dury, said, “The Rainbow Run has been organised to raise money for this year’s chosen charity and children will take part alongside their families. There are two distances, 1km and 3km, depending on running ability, and families will choose to run this at home or in an open space locally.”
Oonagh Goodman, fundraising director of the Rainbow Trust, added, “Our family support workers, who are classed as ‘key workers’ in the current crisis, have been part of the national response to rapidly increasing demand, providing critical care and support to seriously ill children and their families in this new frightening reality.
“We are giving emergency practical, mental and emotional support 24 hours day to families, many of whom have children who are classed as some of the most at-risk because they are in cancer treatment, organ transplant patients and have compromised immune systems.
“Yet whilst our services are in demand more than ever, our income has dropped almost overnight as every fundraising event is cancelled.
“We rely on the generosity of the public raising money to fund support to families. So we are doubly grateful to all the families at St Margaret’s Prep School for their resilience, imagination and kindness in going ahead with their colour run ‘virtually’.
“It is great to see the prep school community coming together as one in spirit to support sick children and their families at a time of great need. For all the families supported by Rainbow Trust and all the Rainbow Trust team, a big thank you to you all.”
Children at St Margaret’s will be returning to classes from 1 June in line with Government advice. Headteacher Luke Bromwich has written to parents to say, ‘We are making the necessary arrangements for Kindergarten, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 to return to the school site from this date.
“As you can imagine, the guidelines that we must work within are complex and require careful consideration and risk assessment, and the team at St Margaret’s are currently working through the provision for the children.”
If you wish to make a donation to the Rainbow Trust, please visit the JustGiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/St-Margaret-s-Preparatory-School