According to Cancer Research UK, 23% of breast cancer cases in the UK are preventable. Cancer Research UK also says that there are 55,920 new cases of breast cancer each year. So, nearly 13,000 preventable cases, annually. Why aren’t they prevented? There are many reasons, but one major reason is lack of education. Here’s how the Tiffin Girls’ School in Kingston is making a difference.
On Friday 21st October, TGS held their annual Pink Day, the perfect end to a week of raising both money and awareness. In order to raise money, the Year 11s had the task of planning a pink themed stall in the leading weeks to half term, and once in the final week, they set up their stalls at break and lunch time for the younger students. Some of the stalls this year were a nail salon and a ‘decorate your own pink cupcake’ stall. This is beneficial in more ways than one, as each class has to work as a team to organize a stall by themselves, which includes working out profit and how much to sell each item for, teamwork skills, adapting to others’ ideas, creating posters to advertise and essentially setting up a mini business and running it for a week. The class 11B chose to sell pink tie-dye T-shirts, and made a profit of over £800, all of which was donated to help those battling Breast Cancer and scientific research. Additionally, everyone came in pink outfits and donated £1 for the non-uniform day, which raised a lot of money and created a wonderful atmosphere.
A highlight for many is the famous ‘Pink Parade’, which happens on the last day of school in October, every year. Teachers take part in what 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 be called a catwalk, in eccentric pink outfits, often including wigs, tutu skirts and boa scarves. Different subject departments compete to see who has the best outfits, songs, and many teachers even choreograph dances! Whilst this gives both students and staff an exciting and cheerful way to end a stressful term of school, it also raises money as students pay £1 entry at the door. A student in Year 7, who is experiencing their first pink day, said “It truly feels like a huge party; we were all clapping along and singing whilst our teachers were dancing in hilarious outfits. Despite its fun, we all donated and took part in activities to support people fighting against breast cancer.”
Although the school participates in numerous festive activities, at the heart of Pink Week and Day is the very serious and prevalent matter of breast cancer. A Year 10 student who was asked about the significance of Pink Day responded, “I think Pink Day is super important because society already makes taboos out of words such as breasts and that makes it very difficult to start discussions around these topics, so I think it’s great as we’re raising awareness and helping destigmatise.”
Near the start of Pink Week, there was a whole school assembly where students were taught how to self-check their breasts for signs of breast cancer and what symptoms to look out for. A great way to educate people is to destigmatize and teach them how to identify possible cases of cancer early. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, with more than 150 new diagnoses every day, so it is more important than ever to start discussions about our health and our bodies.
