The Friends of St. John’s Beaumont (FSJB) is the parents’ association of the school, and our primary objectives are to bring together the school community and raise funds for the charities chosen by this community.
Throughout the year, events and charitable initiatives embrace the school community, encouraging the boys and their families to be part of the school’s efforts to improve the lives of others. We like to stress that all the monies raised by FSJB are donated to charities.
The committee is made up of volunteer parents representing year groups throughout the school. Each member has individual responsibilities, based on previous or current career experience and has represented their year group as a former class parent. The current members of the Friends of St. John’s Beaumont committee are:
| Victoria Kerr | Chair |
| Reena Woolf | Treasurer |
| Tajinder Man | Vice-Treasurer |
| Gemma Beck | Charities Liaison |
| Karen Wells | Nearly New Uniform Shop |
| Navi Brar-Gill | Class Rep Liaison |
| Penny De Lange | Merchandising |
| Carmen Gonçalves | Red Chair Project and Merchandising |
| Lucy Drower | Other schools´ Liaison |
| Zoe Birri | Communications |
| Shabnam Hussain | General Support |
The NNUS is coordinated by Karen Wells who is helped by a group of parent volunteers. The shop is located at the school and runs during the regular opening times on Fridays as well as for special one-off sales events.
The wonderful helpers are Harpal Keila, Joanne Clark, Katerina Day, Marina Kakkar, Mary Kate Wolsely, Roopinder Brar, Shital Bhatt and Gaby Smith. We are extremely grateful to the team for providing a great service to our parent community and raising money for our charities. All monies earned go directly to the FSJB-nominated charities.
Each fundraising initiative encourages boys and their families to get involved. Mindfulness is a significant part of the school’s pastoral care. Taking the time to support charity events enables the boys to gain awareness of the needs of others and learn how they can take action to help. Termly parent-and-son sports events, school discos and other age-suitable events encourage friendships amongst both students and parents and are supported by events including the bi-annual Christmas Ball, summer fair and the entrepreneurial Red Chair Project which challenges boys to initiate their own charitable events with surprising and successful results!
Charities are reviewed on an annual basis and, whilst some remain constant, others change yearly. Any family or teacher wishing to nominate a charity to become one of the schools chosen charities can do so via the Friends of St. John’s. Each nomination is discussed with the Headmaster prior to the start of each academic year and charities choices are announced early in each academic year.
Occasionally, the FSJB organises one-off events to collect much-needed food, books or toys for charities who reach out for help.
Jesuit Missions works with poor and marginalised people around the world by promoting social justice, building bridges between communities, and accompanying those working on the missions. Some projects include: raising funds for the work Jesuit Missions are carrying out with Ukrainian refugees, providing a clean water supply for a school in India; translating the New Testament into Wapishana for Amerindian people in Guyana for the first time; and supporting the work of Zambuko House, a refuge for street children in Harare.
Founded by former families of the school, on the Roman Catholic principle of service and helping others, the St. John’s Holidays for Children Trust is a small charity that runs two annual holidays for children with special needs in the Thames Valley Area. Kids’ Week, as the holidays are known, give parents a break from childcare and the children a week of adventure and exploration. St. John’s Beaumont hosts one of the two-week-long holidays during the Easter break, with boys and their families invited to get involved and help out.
The main objective of this project is to raise awareness about the causes and consequences of the fact that 58 million children around the world don´t have access to quality education. The red chair represents a space that is left empty by boys and girls who are prevented from accessing education and who are unable to enjoy this basic human right. The project was started in a Jesuit school in northern Spain and then brought to other schools through the Jesuit NGO Entreculturas. Educate Magis, together with Entreculturas, is now sharing this project with Jesuit schools all over the world.
The boys are able to learn about the importance of quality education to break the cycle of poverty and be aware of the many millions of children around the world who are deprived of their right to education for reasons such as war, poverty or gender. It is a very visually impactful and hands-on project where the boys have been invited to paint red chairs that are now present throughout the school to serve as a reminder of this reality.
They are also invited to take action by working in teams and coming up with different fund-raising projects. The best “business plans” will be selected by a Dragon-Den´s-like jury and will be implemented by the boys in the summer term with the help of the FSJB.
Click here to see some of the ideas suggested to the boys.
Nominated Charities for 2022
We are currently fundraising for St Mary’s Children’s Fund (part of Imperial Health Charity) and the Windsor Homeless Project.
Every year, thousands of seriously ill children from across the UK are treated at St. Mary’s Hospital. From tiny babies to young adults, all patients receive outstanding care and support as soon as they walk through the door. Their expert paediatricians provide a wide range of specialist services for children with one of the strongest services in the Country. They also recognise how a child's illness affects the whole family and are able to carefully plan care and support around their patients emotional and practical needs.
The St Mary’s Children’s Fund supports these children’s services at St Mary’s Hospital, ensuring that experts can continue to deliver the care that every child deserves. The St. Mary’s Children’s Fund aims to raise enough funds to make their children’s services at St Mary’s Hospital even better. They hope to transform the hospital environment to make sure St Mary’s is welcoming and comfortable for all children and their families and ensure that every paediatric department is equipped to continue delivering the best possible care.
With our help, St Mary’s Children’s Fund will implement several fundraising projects in their pipeline in Children’s Services, including:
Read more about St Mary's Children's Fund
The project was founded in 2009, as a response to the tragic passing of a local man who had been sleeping rough on a bench in Windsor Town.
Since then, The Windsor Homeless Project has continued to grow. They have worked hard, supporting the homeless and most vulnerable in Windsor to enable them to rebuild their lives. They offer empathy as well as practical support in a non-judgemental and compassionate way. The Windsor Homeless Project is more than just a shelter, providing hot dinners and hot showers, they work together to build a plan, to start the journey towards being housed and fully supported into a sustainable, fulfilling, settled lifestyle.
Funds donated to the project go towards its running costs, supplies of tea, coffee, and stationary, and also to provide essential personal hygiene supplies for those without access to benefits to ensure their dignity is upheld. Mobile phones to ensure they are able to keep in communication with authorities and supporting agencies are also needed and, at times, funds are also required to assist with essential travel for medical appointments to hospitals.
Read more about the Windsor Homeless Project
Previous year's charities
St John's Beaumont School is proud to have supported Great Ormond Street Hospital Children´s Charity (GOSH) during 2022. With our community's help, we have also collected precious books for local children through the Salvation Army in Addlestone and for others further away, in Africa, through Books2Africa.
Every day, around 600 children and young people from across the UK arrive at GOSH. Every day, doctors and nurses battle the most complex illnesses, and the brightest minds come together to achieve pioneering medical breakthroughs.
This extraordinary hospital has always depended on charitable support to give seriously ill children the best chance to fulfil their potential. We are proud of having contributed to a better future for seriously ill children.
Last December, when Father Christmas came to visit the school for a special Breakfast with the Pre-prep boys, we asked the SJB families to bring children´s books to give to less fortunate families. The books were put to good use by Father Christmas through the Salvation Army in Addlestone, spreading the joy of Christmas and reading with many local children.
Read more about the Salvation Army Addlestone
The funds raised by the FSJB were put to good use by funding to send 200 kg of science books collected by Mr Baker and the school´s Science Department for African students through Books2Africa, a British charity whose mission it is to promote a culture of recycling and to improve the quality of education in Africa, through the collection, processing, shipping and distribution of quality books, computers, and educational materials, that enable individuals, institutions, and communities to acquire knowledge and achieve their full potential in a globalised world.
