Fundraising events like Christmas Jumper Day are an important part of the school year - they let kids have fun while developing empathy.
But things have been getting harder for families recently, and with lots of costs coming together in December, there may be children at your school who struggle to take part.
No-one should miss out - so we've worked with the Child Poverty Action Group to come up with ideas to make sure everyone has the best Christmas Jumper Day!
Remember - there’s no right or wrong way to take part!
Loads of schools have their own fun and inclusive ways to celebrate the big day. Like Haimo Primary School in London, where they decorate festive t-shirts - and there’s a secondary school in Grantham where they hold a ‘reverse Christmas Jumper Day’ before the big event. All that matters is you all have fun, wear something silly (whether a jumper or a decoration you’ve made in class) and do what you can to help kids in the UK and around the world!
Collecting money:
- Move it online – we’re offering every school a JustGiving page that can be sent to parents instead of asking for coins. That way parents can give smaller amounts anonymously (or not at all) without anyone knowing. Claim yours when you sign up, or use the link in your welcome email.
- Keep it in the family – try a family donation system, where not every sibling has to donate.
- Make it discreet – don’t go around collecting donations or checking off a list of who has or hasn’t donated. Why not have a donation box in a safe, central location – like at the front of the classroom, or near the school entrance instead?
Fundraising tips:
- Bake better – cake sales can be upsetting for children who can't afford to buy anything. You don't have to ban the bake entirely, though - why not try letting everyone have one cake and then collecting donations from anyone who wants seconds?
- Plenty of notice – give parents as much notice as possible that the day is coming, so they have time to plan their finances.
- Reassure parents – make sure they know £2 is only a suggested donation amount and they can donate less – or not at all – if they need to.
Creative jumper tips:
- Reward creativity – discourage pupils from wearing new jumpers by giving house points, sweets, or other rewards to children who either decorate their own, or re-wear old jumpers.
- (Temporarily) jazz up your school jumper - dedicate a lesson to making decorations that can be pinned onto children’s school jumpers, and then removed after the big day.
- Christmas T-shirt Day – instead of jumpers, have everyone bring in (or even better, if the school can afford to provide them) a much cheaper plain t-shirt that can be decorated with marker pens, stickers or glitter.
Pre-loved jumper tips:
- Reverse Christmas Jumper Day – ask children to bring in any jumpers that are not wanted or no longer fit. You can then make these available to everyone before the big day on a donate-what-you-can (or not at all) basis. Making sure these jumpers are available to everyone – not just those who need them – can help reduce stigma.
- Upcycle the lost property – raid the lost property and give pupils the opportunity to turn any unclaimed jumpers into something festively fabulous
- Second hand uniform sales – if you already ask pupils for old uniforms to resell or swap, why not do the same for their unwanted Christmas Jumpers, too?
Whole-school approach:
- Targeted support isn’t always best - while it can be helpful for children from low-income backgrounds, the Child Poverty Action Group suggest that whole-school approaches are even more beneficial. Are there other ways you can think of that would reduce the cost of taking part for everyone at your school?
I hope that these tips have reassured you that it’s possible to hold fundraising events like Christmas Jumper Day without making the lives of some of your pupils harder.
If you haven’t signed up yet, there’s still plenty of time – and this year we’ve worked with some educational experts to make special resources for schools, including KS1&2 and KS3&4 lesson plans, assembly PowerPoint presentations and more that we hope will get everyone at your school engaged and excited for Christmas Jumper Day 2024.
If you have any tips that you think we’ve missed – or have an excellent idea you think we should promote next year we’d love to hear from you.
Please email [email protected], with the subject line “Inclusive Christmas Jumper Day”.
