Supporters fundraising stories

Kineton High School

Kineton High School, based in Warwickshire, has a long-standing tradition for fundraising and often chooses local charities so that the students and families can relate to them.

Name: Kineton High School
Event: Accumulator Challenge
Venue: The school
Amount raised: £27,782

Often, families will have a link to a local charity, especially somewhere like Katharine House and this connection helps the students feel more involved. Throughout our partnership with the school, they have donated an incredible £27,782 to Katharine House Hospice, with the majority of these funds being raised through the Accumulator Challenge.

Over the years, the students have been guided and supported by Ms Purnell, Head of Art and Design at Kineton School, who has always encouraged all the students to get involved.

“One of the best things about the Accumulator Challenge is the whole school coming together and everyone being involved. As a teacher, it’s very rewarding to see.” – Ms Purnell

The students have taken part in a number of activities over the years but their main fundraising event is the Christmas Craft Fair. This is where students do a Young Enterprise Scheme and use lesson time to create a product to sell at the Christmas Fair. This event is always massively popular with both the students and the visitors to the Christmas Craft Fair.

Students from Years 7 to 11 take part in the Craft Fair and then the Sixth Form holds a Charity Week at Christmas, meaning the whole school gets involved in the challenge!

Early on, Ms Purnell realised that, not only were the students having fun and getting creative, they were also learning some great life skills too.

“The students learn many things from teamwork and product design to finances, marketing and organisational skills!” – Ms Purnell

Kineton High School Accumulator Challenge

Kineton High School are the only team to have taken part in every challenge since its inception in 2014. They have won an award every year they have taken part, including ‘Most Funds raised by a School’ multiple years, the ‘Ultimate Accumulator’ award in 2017/18, the inaugural ‘Sustainability Award in 2023/24’, and the ‘Creativity Award’ in 2024/25. They have raised £23,565 throughout the challenge, making them one of the most successful teams in the history of the challenge.

The students were awarded the Sustainability Award when they impressed the judges with their creativity by repurposing items for the Christmas Fair, making snowmen from old white sport socks, Christmas trees from old library books and tinsel from unused rags. They even made beautiful festive decorations from old Christmas trees.

In 2025/26 the team won the ‘Community Award’ when they displayed their creative artwork in an unused shop window display in the Castle Quay shopping centre in Banbury, asking the community to donate funds via a QR code.

Ms Purnell said that the secret behind their success is “keeping it simple, getting as many people involved as possible and having fun!” She added: “I would encourage any school, business or community group to take part too. We love a bit of competition here at KHS! Katharine House Hospice has supported many people in our school community and we like to give back where we can. It is so important to raise awareness about Katharine House Hospice and the fantastic work they do.” 

The school and hospice are also working together to support each other in other creative ways. In May 2026, Sue from our fundraising team and Hannah, a nurse from our Living Well team, visited the school to hold an educational session with the students.

The session included a Q&A and gave Sue and Hannah the opportunity to tell the students more about the work we do at Katharine House and explain the various options and routes into working in the health care sector.

Hannah was a previous student at the school and did work experience at the hospice.

“When I was exploring options with healthcare careers, I was unaware of the many different roles involved and sometimes alternative paths that can be taken to reach those jobs or further opportunities that arise from certain careers. It’s a big decision about your future and I would have liked to be encouraged to understand all the avenues available, so I hope my time with the students helped them to understand that there isn’t just one path and they can look at options and change their minds to what fits them best.” – Hannah

Looking forward with Kineton High School

In the future, the hospice hopes to attend career fairs at the school, giving the students information and support on how to start their career path in the healthcare and fundraising sector.

We are so grateful to all the staff at Kineton High, plus all the past and current students for their support. We hope that our partnership continues to grow and flourish over the years.