I’m taking on a 21 Book Challenge to raise money for Charlie’s Promise as part of The Abbey School’s 21 for 21 campaign.

I’m a Pastoral Assistant at The Abbey School in Faversham and spend my days supporting our young people. When our students were challenged to take on their own 21 for 21 challenges, I thought I should probably put my money where my mouth is and do one too!

I want our students to see that making a difference isn’t just something we ask them to do. We can all get involved, do something positive and play our part.

Charlie Cosser would have turned 21 on 28 October 2026, so our school community is coming together to mark his 21st birthday by taking on challenges based around the number 21.

Mine is to read 21 books! 📚

Charlie’s Promise works to educate young people about the devastating impact of knife crime and the importance of making safe choices, speaking up and looking out for one another.

As a school, we’ve set ourselves a pretty massive target — £21,000 for Charlie’s Promise by Easter 2027. Our students are being encouraged to take on their own challenges and aim to raise at least £21 each, and staff are joining in too.

You can find out more about The Abbey School here:

https://www.abbeyschoolfaversham.co.uk/

And you can follow our whole-school 21 for 21 total here:

https://www.justgiving.com/team/abbeyschoolfaversham21421?utm_medium=TE&utm_source=CL

If you can sponsor me, amazing. Anything you can give, big or small, will help us get a little bit closer to that £21,000.

And if you can’t donate, sharing my page would be just as appreciated. The more people we can get behind this, the better.

Hopefully I can make my way through all 21 books and, along the way, show our students a little bit of what active citizenship is all about — getting involved, doing your bit and supporting something that matters.

Thank you so much for supporting me, our school and, most importantly, Charlie’s Promise.

Miss Bowden