Invitation for all parents to the BPA Summer Party

The Bedales, Dunhurst and Dunannie Summer Party to be held on Friday 27 June, 7.15pm – 11pm, in the Summer Marquee behind Steephurst will be an evening of cocktails, dinner and dancing. Tickets are £85 per person and all funds raised will go towards the new Art and Design Centre. A live auction will be held by Jonathan Pratt of Bellmans Auctioneers and star of BBC’s Bargain Hunt and Antiques Road Trip. A Silent Auction will also run with opportunities to bid at Dunannie and Dunhurst Sports’ Day and Bedales Parents’ Day. Donations of prizes (such as holiday homes, shooting days, tickets to sporting events/concerts/plays, creative or professional skills) would be gratefully received. If you can help, please contact: Jane Bailey, Chair of the BPA, janebailey1964@gmail.com, 01730 233086 or Kate Voorhees, Block 5 Rep,chufster@aol.com, 01730 269046. Reserved tables of 10 are available as well as free seating. To book tickets, which can be added to your child’s bill, please click here or e-mail fundraising@bedales.org.uk.

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Bedales School is one of the UK’s top independent private co-education boarding schools. Bedales comprises three schools situated in Steep, near Petersfield, Hampshire: Dunannie (ages 3–8), Dunhurst (ages 8–13) and Bedales itself (ages 13–18). Established in 1893 Bedales School puts emphasis on the Arts, Sciences, voluntary service, pastoral care, and listening to students’ views. Bedales is acclaimed for its drama, theatre, art and music. The Headmaster is Keith Budge.

Bedales parents co-ordinate local collection for typhoon survivors

Thanks to donations from schools and community groups across Petersfield and surrounding areas, a container of essential items to support the survivors of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines was shipped out last week by charity Hope and Aid Direct from the collection depot in Buriton.

The collection was initiated by Jane and Keith Barnett, parents at Bedales Pre-prep, Dunannie, who together with Dunannie Head Jo Webbern set up the appeal for items that would offer immediate help to survivors of Typhoon Haiyan. Tents, camping beds, bed linen, umbrellas, kitchen equipment, toys and bikes, were just some of the many items donated by local people to help with the relief effort. The collection took place over a number of weeks and consisted of a co-ordinated campaign including Buriton Parish Council, Buriton Church, community groups and local schools.

Dunannie parent, Rachel Hampson, also organised a toiletries’ and household items collection from local schools, including: Ditcham Park, East Meon, Froxfield, Herne Junior School, Langrish, Petersfield Infant School, Sheet, Steep and TPS. The Little School on the Lake Nursery organised a cash collection for the campaign. Rachel and friend Annaliese Marshall sent letters to schools via parents they knew and used the Petersfield Area Mum’s Facebook page to raise awareness of the appeal. They were delighted with the response, receiving items including toothpaste, toothbrushes, shower gels and hygiene kits as well as plenty of household items.

Volunteers helped to sort through the items and package them up for shipping, including staff and students from Bedales Schools. Boxes for packing the donated goods were kindly provided by Reeves and the Big Yellow Storage Company.

Hope and Aid Direct are liaising closely with the Rotary Club on the island of Cebu, Philippines to distribute the donated items from Petersfield to families in the areas affected by the typhoon. The charity is run entirely by volunteers who work tirelessly to get food, clothing and equipment out to areas struck by war or natural disasters, such as Kosovo and Syria. Their experience and knowledge has been instrumental in ensuring the donated items are received by people who need them the most. For more information, visit www.hopeandaiddirect.org.uk.

Commenting on the appeal, Jane and Keith Barnett said: “Whilst the aid agencies are seeking cash donations and doing their utmost to provide immediate help to those in desperate need, we wanted to help more directly the people on the ground. As a result of the conversation with a friend who lives in Cebu, he suggested that we organise a container to be shipped to the Philippines which can be packed with essential items to help make these people’s lives a little easier. The response from local people has been incredible, with so many good quality and useful items carefully packaged up to help survivors. Some people had even included little notes with their items to pass on their best wishes and words of support to the survivors.”

Keith Budge, Headmaster of Bedales Schools, said: “There has been an overwhelming response to this appeal from the entire Bedales community and other local schools. People jumped at the chance to contribute directly to helping the recovery of the areas and those affected by Typhoon Haiyan. We look forward to hearing news of how the aid was received and offering more support where needed.”

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Bedales School is one of the UK’s top independent private co-education boarding schools. Bedales comprises three schools situated in Steep, near Petersfield, Hampshire: Dunannie (ages 3–8), Dunhurst (ages 8–13) and Bedales itself (ages 13–18). Established in 1893 Bedales School puts emphasis on the Arts, Sciences, voluntary service, pastoral care, and listening to students’ views. Bedales is acclaimed for its drama, theatre, art and music. The Headmaster is Keith Budge.

Bedales Pre-prep pupils provide Harvest feast for local charities

Pupils from Bedales Pre-prep, Dunannie, produced a feast of Harvest produce for residents of Ramscote Home for the Elderly and local homeless charity Stonepillow at their recent Harvest Festival.

During the Festival the children from Nursery through to Year 3 performed music and drama to themes including the story of the Gingerbread Man, how our food is cultivated and the tale of Thanksgiving.

Commenting on the Festival, Jo Webbern, Head of Dunannie, said: “Our Harvest Celebration was really lovely set against the backdrop of an Autumnal arrangement created by our parents combined with the children’s display of trees. Ramscote were delighted to see some of our children arrive with beautifully decorated boxes packed with gorgeous gifts, fresh fruit and vegetables. The donations to the Stonepillow charity were also plentiful and we look forward to welcoming a representative of the charity to our assembly before half-term”.

The elderly residents of Ramscote were very grateful to receive a large tin of drinking chocolate so that the kitchen can add hot chocolate as well as tea and coffee to the drinks menu.

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Bedales School is one of the UK’s top independent private co-education boarding schools. Bedales comprises three schools situated in Steep, near Petersfield, Hampshire: Dunannie (ages 3–8), Dunhurst (ages 8–13) and Bedales itself (ages 13–18). Established in 1893 Bedales School puts emphasis on the Arts, Sciences, voluntary service, pastoral care, and listening to students’ views. Bedales is acclaimed for its drama, theatre, art and music. The Headmaster is Keith Budge.

Bedales Music Festival raises £6,000 for local charities

A Midsummer Music Festival organised by the Bedales Parents’ Association (BPA) raised over £6,000 following a concert held on the school grounds with the newly-completed Sam Banks Pavilion as the backdrop to the event. The Festival featured music across the genres of rock, classical and jazz performed by student musicians from Bedales and Bedales Prep, Dunhurst.

Home-Start Butser was selected as the local charity and representatives exhibited at the event. The other cause was the school’s own bursary initiative, the John Badley Foundation, which is widening access to the school for children who could benefit from a boarding school environment. Six children will be on the scheme with 100% bursaries to Bedales from September.

Tickets for the Music Festival sold out very quickly across the school community and everyone enjoyed the festival atmosphere. Integral to its success was the professional management of the stage crew, sound and technical equipment by a Bedales student-run company.

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Bedales School is one of the UK’s top independent private co-education boarding schools. Bedales comprises three schools situated in Steep, near Petersfield, Hampshire: Dunannie (ages 3–8), Dunhurst (ages 8–13) and Bedales itself (ages 13–18). Established in 1893 Bedales School puts emphasis on the Arts, Sciences, voluntary service, pastoral care, and listening to students’ views. Bedales is acclaimed for its drama, theatre, art and music. The Headmaster is Keith Budge.

Students raise £1,000 for Comic Relief

Students across the three schools raised a total of £1,000 for Comic Relief last week. At Dunannie children wore red and funny items of clothing and paid £1 each for the privilege, raising £325, including sales of red noses. Dunhurst combined fundraising with a focus on fair-trade raising £300, which was split between Comic Relief and a school charity, Miraflor, which supports the education of children from the coffee farming communities in Nicaragua. At Bedales, students dressed up in various different comedic guises and baked cakes for the benefit of an appreciative school community who donated generously raising £600. The Spring Concert fell on Red Nose Day, giving the chamber choir and orchestra a somewhat unusual appearance during rehearsals. Read more. View photos of Comic Relief. View photos of the Spring Concert rehearsals.

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Bedales School is one of the UK’s top independent private co-education boarding schools. Bedales comprises three schools situated in Steep, near Petersfield, Hampshire: Dunannie (ages 3–8), Dunhurst (ages 8–13) and Bedales itself (ages 13–18). Established in 1893 Bedales School puts emphasis on the Arts, Sciences, voluntary service, pastoral care, and listening to students’ views. Bedales is acclaimed for its drama, theatre, art and music. The Headmaster is Keith Budge.

Bedales Pre-prep, Dunannie raises over £4,800 for charities

Throughout the school year, children at Bedales Pre-prep, Dunannie, have raised over £4,800 from various events for their two chosen charities: Petersfield based Hounds for Heroes and Big Brother Mouse, a child literacy charity based in Laos.

In the Autumn term children held The Great Dunannie Bakeoff, raising money through the sale of cakes, breads and biscuits. Dunannie parents organised an Art Exhibition and Silent Auction in the Spring term, with a mixture of professional and amateur artists exhibiting alongside Dunannie children, raising thousands of pounds.

The highlight of the year, however, was the annual fun run, this year with a royal Diamond Jubilee theme, in which the children were sponsored for each lap they completed of the athletics track, either walking or running. Some children had been training for the event for weeks. Dressed in royal outfits, fit for all sorts of princes and princesses, the children showed unstoppable energy and motivation, as they ran around the track as many times as they could.

Gulf War veteran ex-Royal Navy Chief Petty Officer Allen Parton and his assistance dog EJ (Endal Junior) from Hounds for Heroes and Sam Wade from Big Brother Mouse recently attended a school assembly where they were presented with cheques for £3,374 and £1,500 respectively, raised from the year’s events.

Jo Webbern, Head of Dunannie, commented:

“We are delighted to be helping such worthwhile charities and we are very proud of the children for raising such an impressive amount of money to help others.” 

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Bedales School is one of the UK’s top independent private co-education boarding schools. Bedales comprises three schools situated in Steep, near Petersfield, Hampshire: Dunannie (ages 3–8), Dunhurst (ages 8–13) and Bedales itself (ages 13–18). Established in 1893 Bedales School puts emphasis on the Arts, Sciences, voluntary service, pastoral care, and listening to students’ views. Bedales is acclaimed for its drama, theatre, art and music. The Headmaster is Keith Budge.