Steyning students ‘wear it pink’ for breast cancer campaign

tudents and staff went all out for ‘wear it pink’ this year and a fantastic £3888.23 has been raised which will help continue to fund the campaigns vital and lifesaving research.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October is supported each year by the Sixth Form College, with a day of fundraising organised by the student peer educators and listeners.

It is a day when all Y7-11 students and staff join together in wearing something pink as a means of raising funds. Students are also able to purchase the Breast Cancer Awareness badges, now a global symbol for this campaign.

Holly Ducket, Head Girl and one of the event organisers said: “This year we have asked students to wear as many items of pink clothing as possible so we can create the biggest pink human photograph, which will be uploaded onto the ‘Wear It Pink’ website in support of the campaign.”

The Sixth Form College 1st and 2nd XI football teams and the rugby team launched the day’s events by performing a dance medley for all year 9-11 students, and were seen as never before in pink clad outfits.

The dance spectacular choreography was led by Hannah Mitchell, A Level Dance student, who said “The dance took a week to choreograph and three weeks to teach the teams, training every lunchtime, it’s been hard work but everyone’s really enjoyed it.

This is a really good charity and I wanted to try and make it a good event again this year”.

As part of this campaign all our 500 Sixth Formers received a presentation on Breast Cancer Awareness, and were given the current facts covering risk factors, symptoms, detection, diagnosis and treatment, all organised and delivered by our student Peer Educators.

Izzy Green, who put the presentation together, said: “I really wanted to get involved and get the message about Breast Cancer Awareness across, really to ensure that the fundraising effort is fully supported, and so everyone will give more. It also helps to prepare students just encase they have to deal with this in the future”

Mrs Sally Randall, Assistant Headteacher, KS5 said: “Our ‘wear it pink’ day has been a huge success and we are thrilled to have been able to support the Breast Cancer Campaign again this year. The students all thoroughly enjoyed becoming ‘pink heroes’ for the day and raising money in aid of Breast Cancer Research, they are also very proud of their role in encouraging fellow students to be ‘part of the cure’ in the fight against this disease”

The College netball team also held a charity netball match against the boys, keenly referred by PE Department staff. Money raised from this will go directly to help fund local mammogram screening for early detection.

Annabel Tompkins, ‘wear it pink’ Senior Manager at Breast Cancer Campaign, said: “A huge thank you to all the staff and supporters at Steyning Grammar School for taking part in ‘wear it pink’ this year.

“We are incredibly grateful for all your support; it’s so great to hear that everyone enjoyed themselves and all in the name of breast cancer research. Your invaluable donation and support will help us achieve our goal of continuing to fund lifesaving research to improve treatment and ultimately to find a cure for breast cancer.”

Breast Cancer Awareness Month was introduced in 1993 as a Worldwide Campaign by Evelyn Lauder of the Estee Lauder cosmetic family to support people affected by the disease, to raise funds for research into the disease and to increase awareness.

For more information on Breast Cancer Campaign and all the vital research they do please visit www.breastcancercampaign.org.

In February 2014 a similar day will be held to raise awareness of testicular cancer during the designated awareness month.

Copy and pictures submitted by Steyning Grammar School