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Home / News / Local school’s Shaun the Sheep Shuffle was a huge success for St Oswald’s Hospice

Local school’s Shaun the Sheep Shuffle was a huge success for St Oswald’s Hospice

Young people from Newcastle’s Dame Allan’s Junior School ended their Shaun on the Tyne adventure with a fabulous fundraising event for St Oswald’s Hospice in January.

We caught up with teacher Nadine Strettle-Brown to find out how the day went and how they raised such a baa-rilliant total!

Nadine said:

“As a school, we were delighted to take part in the Shaun the Sheep trail last summer and we purchased two sculptures which the children designed themselves and named Geordie Shaun and Tropical Shaun. This was lots of fun and the children were really excited to be part of the trail and visit their Shaun’s over the summer.

Baa-rilliant fun!

“We decided to take on a sponsored run that we named the ‘Shaun the Sheep Shuffle’ and this was held on the 12th January. All of our children and some teachers – including one of our PE teachers in sheep fancy dress! – took part in the fun, setting off in waves throughout the day. To offer encouragement to the children, we placed our sculptures from our participation in previous St Oswald’s Hospice trails, including our Shaun’s, Elmer’s and Snowdogs, along the route.

Over the Christmas holidays, the children were challenged with gathering sponsorship per lap completed, from friends and family and each child had a 15 minute slot in which to run.”

St Oswald’s Hospice fundraiser Karen went along on the day to offer her support and she delivered a short presentation to the school, introducing the children to some of the young people that they would be supporting through their fundraising and showcasing some of the activities they enjoy doing at the hospice.

There was also a special guest in attendance, as Newcastle United and England footballer, Kieran Trippier took on the role as official prize giver. Kieran has a connection to the hospice as he was recently announced as the Official Ambassador for St Oswald’s Hospice Children and Young Adult’s Service.

Nadine added:

“The children were very emotional seeing some of the photos, and learning how many carers a child needed to be able to participate in a surfing lesson. This motivated them to raise even more money. In addition, having Kieran Trippier attend the prize giving ceremony at the end of the race really helped to promote the event too. We awarded prizes to one person in each year group who had shown particular determination and resilience during the run.”

The school has originally hoped to raise £800 but Nadine was shocked to discover the final total stood at £7,000! She finished:

“I think what really helped us was that many members of our school community have strong links with the local charity, and we were able to post a couple of testimonials in our school communications which no doubt helped to boost our total. Everyone, but especially those who have been involved with the charity, were very generous with their donations.

All in all the children thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the run, but more importantly, they understood the real reason behind this event. They were so proud to help support people in need in our area and went above and beyond in their fundraising efforts. We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who supported our Shaun the Sheep Shuffle.”

Jane Hogan, Head of Fundraising at St Oswald’s Hospice said:

“We are beyond impressed at the efforts made by everyone at Dame Allan’s Junior School. Their Shaun the Sheep Shuffle was a massive success and the incredible total of £7,000 will make such a difference to the patients and families show are cared for here at the hospice.

“We think there are some budding fundraisers of the future at Dame Allan’s but we’d also like to thank their wonderful grown-ups too, for showing such support towards our cause and for being part of Shaun on the Tyne. We hope Geordie Shaun and Tropical Shaun love their new home and will enjoy being part of school life.