A celebration of the strong community spirit found within Southborough High School at Christmas

One of our key strengths here at Southborough is that we share a strong sense of community spirit; students, parents, carers, staff – together with people living in and around the area - support one another and work together to make the difference for all our students. It’s something we value most highly. And in the lead up to Christmas, this sense of community spirit really does come into its own.

Senior Citizens' Christmas Tea Party

At the very start of December, we held a special Senior Citizens' Christmas Tea Party to thank the many grandparents, great aunts, great uncles, together with our kind elderly neighbours - who play such a supportive role in the upbringing of our students. The love, kindness and care they give our boys has such a positive impact on our students’ wellbeing and learning and this event was the perfect opportunity to ‘give back’ and celebrate their amazing contribution.

P.T.A Fund-Raising Christmas Raffle

Meanwhile, members of our wonderful P.T.A - led by Business Manager Mrs Harris – worked hard sourcing and collecting gifts for the school fund-raising Christmas raffle. Parents and staff pulled out all the stops to support the event, ensuring that a good sum of money was raised for the direct benefit of our students.

Christmas Food Collection

Towards the end of the month, the entire community responded wonderfully to a ‘call to arms’ to donate much needed foodstuff and household products for the less fortunate living in and around the local community. We were over-whelmed by the generosity of our parents and staff; huge bags of goods were donated in the run up to the end of term and we were absolutely thrilled to deliver so many boxes of donations to The Kingston Pantry, a wonderful charity that distributes much needed food and other provisions to clients living in and around the local area.

Our very special Christmas Carol Service

Most fittingly, though, the run up to the Christmas holidays ended with a very special Christmas Carol Service, attended by Year 7 and 8 students, parents and Southborough staff. This event, which was held at St Matthew’s Church Surbiton, was quite simply the ‘piece de la resistance’ in demonstrating such a strong sense of community spirit amongst Southborough School. The theme – ‘Blessed are those who act justly, who always do what is right’, was a timely reminder to us all to follow our hearts and support one another. We were reminded that over the past 12 months, we had, world-wide, “witnessed violations of international law; the undermining of human dignity; the vulnerable being taken advantage of and exploited. Human rights have been trampled on or even ignored. In so many ways and in so many places, injustice prevails” At the same time, we were  also reminded that we had also witnessed acts of extraordinary courage driven and inspired by a selfless love of neighbour.

 The service was the perfect opportunity to give thanks for the many blessings we, as a community, had received over the past year and included solo piano performances by both Year 8 student Thomas F and Year 13 student Angus Y, readings by Year 7 and 8 students Freddie M, David T, Sajai T and Thomas F. Both our student and staff choirs sang beautifully and Headteacher Mr Smith, Ms Linney and Mr Colbert all delivered moving readings to the congregation. As ever, we would like to thank the Reverend Caroline Kramer for delivering the final blessing and for allowing us to celebrate Christmas at St Matthews, our local church. We’d also like to thank Mr Burns for organising such a wonderful event, along with Mr Iles, Mrs Yendoll, Mr Nicholas and all staff for all their input and support in ensuring that the service was a resounding success and that the term ended on such a special note.

A heart-felt ‘thanks’ to our school community

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank the many parents, carers, students and staff who made the lead up to Christmas such a special one; for doing right by others, for being kind and supportive, and for ensuring that Southborough continues to share such a strong sense of community spirit, especially at Christmas.