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APPLY NOWWord from the Head – 18 September 2026
Dear Parents,
This week, one of the most important aspects of Channing life was on full display when the Senior School was asked to vote for the charity that we should support for the year ahead. We often talk about the fact that what is known in education jargon as ‘pupil voice’ is really important at Channing, and I love that every girl has the opportunity to choose where the effort we put into our charity events should go. I found it telling that our Charity Officers, Sophie and Leila, had shortlisted four very different national charities, each of which reflected Channing’s ethos and values.
Two of them had been chosen because of their importance to women. Firstly, Maternity Action, which is the UK’s maternity rights charity, dedicated to promoting, protecting and enhancing the rights of pregnant women, new mothers and their families. The second was Alzheimer’s UK, which is not only supporting sufferers and their families, but also searching for a cure for dementia. The Charity Officers had specifically chosen it because not only are women more likely to get dementia than men (we learned in Tuesday’s assembly that two out of three sufferers are female) but also that the vast majority of carers for people who have dementia are women. They felt that these two charities really spoke to our mission as an all-girls school.
However, they also chose two conservation charities, which underlines our commitment to sustainability and relates directly to the climate emergency that we declared at Channing in 2024. Helping Rhinos is a UK-based charity which works with conservation groups in Africa to preserve rhinos. Leila highlighted a specific project with the Black Mambas, an all-female anti-poaching team working in the Greater Kruger National Park, whose innovative approach has achieved a 63% reduction in poaching incidents since being formed. Meanwhile the Blue Marine Foundation is on a mission to fix one of the planet’s greatest crises: overfishing and marine destruction. A UK-based charity running over 75 projects across 30 countries, they partner directly with local communities and governments to hit their goal of protecting 30% of our global oceans by 2030.
It’s a diverse array and every member of the school community had the chance to vote. This morning in assembly Sophie and Leila were able to announce that our charity for the year ahead is Alzheimer’s UK. This is a cause that has a direct impact on many members of the school community and we’re very excited to raise money for them this year, knowing that on average we raise around £15,000 through our home clothes days, bake sales and other charity events.
Today marks the annual Jeans for Genes Day, during which we support this important charity and children who are born with genetic diseases or defects. To raise awareness, your daughters are sporting denim as part of the non-uniform day. If you are new to the school, you will have noticed that we did not collect cash for this as was possibly the norm at your previous school. For several years now, we have added £17 to the Spring term school bill which covers all non-uniform days in the calendar. If you have any questions about this, please do not hesitate to contact Mr Meier who will happily explain any aspect of the charity work we are doing in school.
Of course, altruism forms a very important part of Channing’s Unitarian ethos. We know the power of doing good for others through our charity work, and also through our social impact work, is really valuable for our girls. Those of you who have attended our welcome evenings so far have watched our social impact video, in which we hear the girls talking about how much they get out of just interacting with other people, whether younger pupils at breakfast clubs or reading groups, mentoring refugee children at our Hub down at the Highgate Newtown Community Partners centre, or talking to older members of our local community during our regular afternoon Communitea events.
What becomes abundantly clear through all these interactions is that altruism is not a secondary pursuit at Channing: it is an integral part of how we educate. Raising money for worthy causes and working alongside people from diverse backgrounds pushes our girls beyond the comfortable boundaries of their daily routines, allowing them to step outside the familiar school environment and engage meaningfully with the wider world.
When our pupils mentor younger children, run fundraising campaigns or support local community events, they are doing far more than collecting donations or completing their volunteering for DofE. They are cultivating deep empathy, active listening and emotional resilience. They quickly realise that true leadership is rooted in purpose, and that personal development has its greatest value when it is used to uplift others.
Connecting with individuals from different walks of life also challenges assumptions and broadens perspectives. It teaches our girls to navigate the world with curiosity rather than judgment, building bridges across socio-economic and cultural divides. In an increasingly complex society, learning to collaborate with compassion is an essential life skill. It shows our pupils that their actions have real, tangible weight, giving them an authentic sense of agency long before they leave school.
Ultimately, this work shapes the character of a Channing pupil. We want our girls to be bright and ambitious, yes, but above all, we want them to be kind, grounded and socially conscious citizens. By embedding philanthropy and altruism into the fabric of everyday school life, we ensure that when our girls step out into the world, they bring with them not just academic excellence, but the character and conviction to make a genuine difference.
It was a pleasure to see so many Year 11 parents at the A level options event last night, and I have no doubt that I will see many more of you from across the school at the Channing Association’s Marketplace event in the Sports Hall on Sunday. I am looking forward to getting a head start on my festive shopping and sampling what our local businesses have to offer. My enormous thanks in advance to Mrs Wenninger and the CA Co-Chairs for organising the event: see you there!
Finally this week, to all our families marking Yom Kippur on Monday, G’mar chatima tovah.
With warmest wishes for the weekend,
Lindsey Hughes
Headmistress
