The Great Hall was a hive of frenetic activity on Saturday morning when First and Second Form pupils hosted the first Omnia Charity Fair.
All pupils were organised into Omnia Quarters with different tasks to complete. First Form pupils in each Quarter chose four charities to support: World Wildlife Fund; Unicef; Black Heroes Foundation; United24. Second Form pupils organised the design of the fundraising stalls with fun challenges to complete.
Set-up began at 9:00am. Some pupils were assigned to go to the shops with a budget to purchase prizes, while others fetched supplies from across the school. The process of designing the stalls, devising the tools for the challenges and making posters using scrap and recyclable materials was a race against the clock.
Presentations about each of the chosen charities opened the fair. Then the serious pursuit of fun began. Pupils rotated between managing their own stalls and competing in each other’s challenges, and were joined by parents, families and teachers.
Traditional challenges included games of skill, luck or wits such as the Tin Can Alley, Blow Football, the Wheel of Fortune, Guess the Sweets. The standard for the physical challenges was set high right at the start by Alex (By) who completed ten minutes in the plank competition.
Games constructed from card, sticks, paper, string, straws and wads of masking tape managed to withstand the battering of excited competitors.
Just about every 50p donation to play was rewarded with a small token prize, and never have so many sweets been enjoyed before lunch. In total, the morning raised just over £480 for the pupils’ selected charities.
