Red Nose Day is back on Friday 18th March and the Comic Relief team are asking everyone to do something funny for money. The charity helps to transform the lives of poor, vulnerable and disadvantaged people across the UK and Africa. From restoring the sight of children in Africa to giving isolated older people in the UK the support they need to enjoy their lives – the money raised can do all this and much, much more.

For schools, there are free primary and secondary fundraising resource packs which are stuffed with everything you could possibly need to get the whole school fundraising and motivated about why it’s so important.

The packs include stickers, posters, activities and learning materials and they are free to order from the Red Nose Day shop.

Terracycle have started a new programme for schools where all money raised through it goes to the school. It also teaches children about social responsibility and encourages them to think about their own impact on the environment.

The programme is simple: a teacher (or a parent) registers their child’s school online and the school is sent a funky collection box with some posters and flyers. Children then drop all used pens, markers or mechanical pencils in the box, and when it is filled, the parent or teacher prints off a free Royal Mail label and ships it to Terracycle free of charge.

For each writing instrument collected, Terracycle donates 2p to the school, and another box is sent so the collection doesn’t need to stop. With the collected pens and markers, they create new eco-friendly products which range from desk organisers, to rubbish bins and even clocks. Sign up to get started!

Wrong Trousers Day 2010 asks the nation to wear their pyjamas with pride to school or nursery. This is all to show support for sick children in local hospitals and hospices. This year’s event takes place on Friday 25th June 2010.

www.wrongtrousersday.org

You can find out more by visiting www.wrongtrousersday.org or by calling 0845 6001 924. You will then be sent a free fundraising pack to use on the day. A host of Pyjama party games and activities will also be available to download on the website soon.

Friendship Funday is Save the Children’s national fundraising day in primary schools. They are on a mission to find schools that want to have fun, celebrate friendship, and help save children’s lives.

Your school can join the fun and:

• enrich your teaching of children’s rights,
• deliver aspects of the global citizenship curriculum,
• strengthen the ‘friendly’ ethos of your school,
• deliver on the Healthy Schools initiative and SEAL’s relationship-themed topic,
• demonstrate the values of Every Child Matters.

More than 100,000 children have taken part in recent years. The online friendship is already buzzing with activity. Want to join them? Register online or call the charity on 020 7012 6400. Once registered, Save the Children will also send you stickers, posters and balloons and may be able to arrange for one of their volunteer speakers to visit your school –a perfect way to introduce their work and the difference your fundraising will make.

Here is a Youtube video showing how your Friendship Funday can help people in Kroo Bay, Sierra Leone.

Plan is one of the largest child-centred community development organisations in the world, helping children and their families in 48 of the poorest countries to break the cycle of poverty. In the countries where they work, one out of five children die before the age of five, and the ones who survive often go hungry and have no chance of learning to read and write.

www.plan-ed.org

Plan also offer a comprehensive site for teachers which offers free teaching resources, video clips, photos, fact sheets and more, all linked to the countries where they work. You can also find out about the projects that Plan are supporting, as well as find out how your school can support the work that they are doing.

The Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity are running a week of Peter Pan themed fundraising activities and a Guinness World Record attempt in aid of the charity. The week runs from 26th to 30th April and thousands of people will be taking part in the biggest ever Peter Pan dress up day on Friday 30th April.

www.gosh.org

Visit the site to register, find instructions about getting involved in the Guinness World Record attempt and download a fundraising toolkit for ideas to try during the week.

Support Your School is a new recycling scheme whereby schools across the UK can raise funds for their school by recycling used inkjet cartridges and unwanted mobile phones. The scheme is completely free for schools to join and participate in, and at a time of under funding for lots of organisations, gives schools a new, ethical way to fundraise.

www.supportyourschool.co.uk

The scheme also helps teachers and schools supporters with a fully integrated website where you can download support materials and manage your accounts in as easy and transparent way as possible. They have a special platform for 6-11 year olds called the RecyKids Area, where young people can learn about recycling and take part in activities that help educate them about the importance of being eco friendly.

Cake A Difference is a brand new fundraising initiative for Bliss. Bliss is a charity dedicated to helping premature and sick babies throughout the UK and it is only through voluntary donations and fundraising that they are able to carry out their work.

From 8-14 February 2010, they are asking primary schools to support Bliss by organising cake sales during the week leading up to Valentine’s day. This is a fantastic opportunity to involve teachers, parents and pupils in an event that everyone can take part in. You’ll also be making a real difference to the lives of babies born too soon, too small or too sick.

www.cakeadifference.org

Visit www.cakeadifference.org for more information, to download a variety of Cake a Difference posters or find some more scrumptious recipes.

Sport Relief is calling all school teachers to join in one of the UK’s biggest fundraising events in 2010 and get the whole school kitted out and active in Sport Relief Socks.

The super-simple scheme enables schools to bulk buy Sport Relief Socks from www.sportrelief.com/schools and sell them for just £2 a pair to pupils, parents and of course teachers. For the first time this year, as an extra incentive, Sport Relief’s friends at Sainsbury’s will give schools one Active Kids voucher for every pair of Socks purchased through the Sport Relief Sock Deposit Scheme. This means that schools can collect 20 vouchers per box of Sport Relief Socks. Schools can choose to pay an initial deposit of just 60p per pair and then pay the remainder (£1.40) after the event, so 20 pairs of Sport Relief Socks can be ordered for a £12 deposit per box – it’s that simple.

But that’s not all; there are hundreds of other ways that schools can rise to the challenge for Sport Relief and by taking part, students will be part of a campaign that’s active, inclusive and fun. And, the best bit is, all the cash raised will help people living unimaginably tough lives both across the UK and the world’s poorest countries.

For more fantastic fundraising ideas, take a look at the Sport Relief teaching kits, available for free now from www.sportrelief.com/schools.

The countdown to Sport Relief 2010 kicks off this month with the launch of exciting, free education resources for primary, secondary and early years groups. The resources, spanning the English, physical education and citizenship curriculums, bring alive the stories of young people in the UK and overseas. Sport Relief’s School Kits are available to order for free at www.sportrelief.com/schools. The kits provide teachers with all the tools they need to get set to ‘Rise to the Challenge’ and inspire their students to get active to help some of the world’s poorest people, both at home in the UK and overseas.

Sport Relief’s free to order resources range from lesson and assembly plans to photos, videos and real stories about children and young people supported by Sport Relief funded projects.

Sportacus, from BBC’s LazyTown is back to excite and inspire early years groups with a host of learning ideas. Early years kits will also include a full colour story book, helping children to understand the differences between their lives and those of other children around the world.

For primary and secondary schools, Sport Relief offers English, PE and citizenship lesson ideas and resources for key stages one to four, including lesson plans and activities that will get students thinking like journalists, with a dedicated area on www.sportrelief.com/schools for them to upload their reports on the issues affecting them in their communities, for all to see.

Get Your Socks on for Sport Relief with the Sport Relief Sock Deposit Scheme for schools. An easy way for schools to fundraise, simply pay a deposit for an order of Sport Relief stripy socks from the website and sell the socks in your school. For every pair of Sport Relief socks ordered through the Sock Deposit Scheme, Sainsbury’s is kindly giving one Active Kids voucher to the school. The Sport Relief sock will also be available to buy in UK Sainsbury’s stores for £2.

The Sport Relief fundraising campaign kicks off in January, when schools will be able to find a wealth of ideas to inspire kids of all ages to rise to the challenge and raise money for Sport Relief.

Important date for your diary – 19^th March 2010: Sport Relief Friday across schools in the UK kicks off the Sport Relief weekend of fundraising fun!