In Summer 2022, Kayla in Year 8 and her family visited Mvumi School, Tanzania; a school with which FHS has held a special relationship for a number of years, and for which we raised over £44,000 in our Clean Hands, Pure Heart campaign in 2021. This campaign funded the construction of an ablution block and other vital infrastructure improvements at the school, as well as paying for several children at Mvumi to complete their education and move on to higher education. However, there are still many more crucial improvements to be made at Mvumi, and Kayla is looking to raise £5,000 to contribute to this. Please follow this JustGiving link to help Kayla reach her fundraising target for this amazing cause.

Kayla held two assemblies last week to speak to the entire Senior School about her experience in Tanzania, which she has reflected on below:

During the first week back at school this year, I was given the opportunity to speak in two school assemblies. The first assembly was on the 05/01/23 for Years 7-8 and the second one on the 06/01/23 for Years 9-10. This was a “Do it scared” experience. I was moved at the turnout as this was attended by many students and teachers. This made me feel slightly nervous due to the amount of people who I was to be speaking in front of! It was also a special opportunity for my mother to come in and see me speaking during one of those assemblies.

For those of you who are not aware, last year I visited a school called Mvumi, which is one of Francis Holland, Sloane Square’s partnership schools, on the 27^th of May 2022. Applying the 7C’s approach taught here at FHS, my journey began with curiosity. If it were not for my curiosity, I would have never known or found out more about Mvumi.  I was intrigued that there was a partnership school to FHS Sloane Square other than Regent’s Park. I am thankful to all involved, both those who have supported me here at FHS and those within the Mvumi School community. Mr Dyson has also played one of the most important roles in this campaign as he has used effective communication and has shown support since day one. This has given me a lot of confidence. Another thing that gave me confidence after the first assembly was the amount of compliments I received regarding my assembly.

Reflecting on the Mvumi visit,  I have come to realise that what I had thought was really personal to me, is mutually experienced by others too. I learnt the invaluable principles of the power of service and the expression of gratitude for our wellbeing. This was demonstrated by delivering the letters written by the girls from Year 8 (then in Year 7), and positive responses from everyone I have spoken to about Mvumi.

At Mvumi and FHS Sloane Square, we all share multiple common goals, such as the values of love, humility, compassion, courage, hope and thankfulness, derived from our Christian foundation. We also share the desire to achieve a good education and develop our characters through taking opportunities to give, and if and when we do receive, we must always be grateful.

I hope that in future, the FHS community will continue to reach out and support Mvumi. I would also like to reflect on the current help that we have received via the JustGiving page; so far we have raised over £2,000 to contribute towards the campaign. I am confident that we will hit the £5,000 target through girls from Years 7-10 working on the challenge as instructed by headmistress Mrs Elphinstone’s letter last week: to be of service to others and use our time, talent and treasure to help those less fortunate than ourselves.

Kayla, Year 8