Every year each house nominates a charity to support throughout the year.
These are the charities being supported in 2025/26.
Charity 2024-2025 Overview
Abbas - Dementia UK
“Our life-changing support is there for everyone affected by dementia.We work alongside people affected by dementia to constantly improve the health and care systems they rely on. We use our clinical knowledge to influence public policy and service delivery, carry out vital research into dementia care, promote better awareness and understanding of dementia, and campaign for change across the UK.”
We started the events by organising a raffle for a Halloween hamper! Inside there was a mixed variety, from sweets to a Halloween mask. The hamper was supported by the house captains, committees and charity champions of Abbas house. The raffle went on for 5 days with tickets being bought every day!
Up next was the Christmas fayre in which our committee members made a fantastic effort with the rest of the house contributing as well. Our Christmas Fayre stalls (yes we had 3) included a photo booth, a memory stall and a cake stand. Our cakes were a huge success and we ran out of stock quickly. The memory game was also a firm favourite with students trying to outdo their friends!
Penny Wars is next and it was as popular as ever, 5 houses, 5 buckets and 1 target…..Who can raise the most! Abbas did better this year with more silver coins than copper however we didn’t quite do enough to grab the top spot.
The charity committee performed great this year with them pulling out the stops when it came to charity time. Going forward we will be aiming to have more independent competitions, both in house and whole school. Well done to all involved!
Chamberlain - Suffolk Wildlife Trust
Suffolk Wildlife Trust has for over 60 years been at the forefront of wildlife conservation and education across the county of Suffolk. At the heart of the charity the mission is to 'Bring Nature Back' through two collective goals: to secure at least 30% of Suffolk's land and sea are our two goals, and to inspire 1 in 4 people in Suffolk to take action for nature and climate.
Last year Chamberlain House started the year with wearing a 'funky' tie. This made for a joyous and fun day. In November we had 'Movember' where we all wore moustaches of different styles and colours, again a really fun and silly day! To celebrate the festivities of Christmas we had our annual Christmas Fayre and sold our infamous luxury hot chocolate, which all students loved. We offered different flavours of hot chocolate with marshmallows, cream, sprinkles and candy canes. We also had students within the house make cakes and cookies to go along with the hot chocolate.
The Chamberlain chocolate hamper was a massive hit and the charity committee members ran a raffle. At Easter, the charity committee ran an Easter Egg tombola which was a massive hit with students and teachers alike from donations from the Chamberlain students. In May, Chamberlain took part in the Penny Wars competition where students donated any spare change to help our chosen charity.
I am immensely proud of all the Chamberlain students who took part in our charity events this year. It has enabled them to be creative, enhance their organisational skills and promote leadership within the house. I am hoping that this academic year 2025-26 our Chamberlain Charity Champions of Scarlett Neil (CBr), Ellia Grimsey (KRi), Zuzanna Milstred (ABa), Luna Rose Morris (ABa), William Marshall (CBr), Parker Nunn (BLe), Harry Hodge (BLe) and Ben Freeman (BLe) will raise even more money for our chosen charity of Addenbrooks Trust and create some new fundraising ideas.
Mrs E Jukes
Houghton - The Red Cross
The Red Cross is a global humanitarian organisation dedicated to providing emergency assistance, disaster relief, and education in communities around the world. Founded on the principles of neutrality, impartiality, and voluntary service, the Red Cross works to alleviate human suffering wherever it is found. Whether responding to natural disasters, supporting military families, delivering blood donations, or offering health and safety training, the Red Cross plays a vital role in protecting lives and restoring hope in times of crisis.
Houghton kicked off the charity fundraising supporting Movember, students were able to purchase moustaches and wear for the day, it was lovely to see so many students involved supporting a fantastic cause. In December our famous Chocolate tombola returned - not only did we raise over £260 at the Christmas Fayre but we were astonished at the number of donations. A very successful event run by Miss Barfield and Mrs Wade. Students were very excited to see if they could pick a winning ticket for a chocolate treat.
This year we were excited to hold the 2nd TGS has got Talent - Following a week of gruelling auditions, the finalists were selected to perform in front of a panel of judges and a live audience. Mrs Yapp, Mrs French, Miss Hunt and our guest judge Mr Dan Moore had a very difficult job of judging each act. 16 acts were in the finals and we had dancers, singers, acting performances and musicians. Mrs Wade was the official adjudicator and was fantastic in keeping scores and monitoring the live audience vote. Caiden Avery was the deserving winner and was very happy to be awarded the ‘TGS has got talent trophy’. The event raised just over £767 which is absolutely incredible. We can't wait for the next one in 2026!
In April we took part in the house competition Penny wars, its a really lovely event that brings out everyone’s competitive spirit and an opportunity to donate all of that loose change to our chosen charity.
The first Sustainable TGS Fashion show was held and we were fortunate to be supported by Oxfam and Abbas House. Students upcycled items of clothing and then showcased their creations on a catwalk, supported by family and friends. The event raised £42 profit for Houghton and is an event that we hope to grow over the coming years.
I feel honoured and privileged to have so many Houghton students supporting our house charity events and demonstrating an eagerness to make a difference. I’m looking forward to our new charity committee Scarlett Serheunik, Ruby Colman, Finn Kingston, Brianna Perez, Emelia Smith and Lydia Byers raising lots of money and coming up with some fantastic new ideas.
Mrs Power
Peyton - Teenage cancer Trust
Last year the Peyton Charity committee was raising money for The Teenage Cancer Trust. Our expanded team of ‘Charity Champions’ organised various events including our Movember event, the Christmas Fayre which involved a Sweet stall, A gift Raffle, and the selling of deconstructed snowmen (Hot chocolate packs as gifts) as well as selling our ever popular Santa hats. The committee were also heavily involved with the organisation of Penny Wars as well as the totalling of the money etc.
We also ran the Easter Egg Raffle again, with donations from parents and students enabling us to raise much needed funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust . Early in the summer term we organised a ‘sweet pong’ event in the Symphony hall, every lunchtime for a week.
With all of these events combined we raised over £1030 which is a great effort.
On to 25-26…
This year's chosen charity is ‘Autism Anglia.
This year we are planning on repeating the Christmas Fayre and upscaling the stalls. We are also looking at running a charity ‘Winter Ball’, a Just Dance’ session, The Easter Egg raffle, Penny Wars and Smelly Wellies again. We are also looking into the possibility of hiring an inflatable assault course in the summer. Hopefully we will be able to raise loads of much needed funding for a very worthy charity and regain the Charities Cup.
If you would like to donate to our House Charity at any point this year you can use this QR code or the link below. Thanks in advance for any support you can give!
https://www.justgiving.com/page/peytonhouse
Tollemache - East Anglian Air Ambulance
Last year saw our house raise money for a great charity in a number of student-led ideas. This was greatly supported by all in the House and school.
Our first event was the 3 peaks challenge
This saw all houses coming together in what was a fun filled event, scaling the 3 floors of TGS as many times as possible in teams to teach the top. All students put in great effort on the afternoon of the event, supporting and encouraging others along the way. It was interesting to see the students the next day trying to scale the stairs with stiff legs.
Movember madness
Students and teachers had the chance to purchase a moustache and then wear it on Friday of that week to support the house charity. It was brilliant to see so many people getting involved in the event especially the teachers who looked very silly in their moustaches. Teaching classes all with moustaches on was certainly interesting and very funny. Even the SLT team got involved and had their meeting wearing moustaches.
Skittles
This was done in transition week as we had the new year 7 students in, who have always been known as the TGS skittles. The event looked at students and teachers trying to name how many skittles are in a jar, but they could only guess their house colour. A bright way to finish the term and a great prize of all the skittles to the winner.
Christmas Fair
This is always a great charity event for all houses. This year it saw our house try to create games and get students involved in our stalls. From pin the tail on the reindeer to candy canes hooks and even Christmas themed pong. All had a fabulous time and there was a great atmosphere around the school.
Mr B Richards