Commonweal students rise to the fundraising challenge

A group of Commonweal School students have risen to the challenge of raising funds for poverty-stricken Romania.

The gauntlet was thrown down by Excalibur Communications CEO James Phipps, who also owns the Link Magazine. James, a former pupil of Commonweal School, challenged a 30-strong group of high-achieving year 9 pupils to raise as much money as possible in 11 days - from an initial investment of £11 each.

James, a keen supporter of the school, stumped up £300 and the school added a further £30 to ensure all students had the £11 challenge money.

“It was great to see what bright and dedicated young people can achieve when they set their minds to it. To raise over £2,500 in just 11 days is an incredible achievement and they will have learnt lessons for life. It was a great innovative programme by Commonweal School to engage with them in a different way and the results speak for themselves.”

The total raised was £2,563.40.

The students raised money in a variety of ways, including cake sales, sponsorship from their friends, family and community groups and running stalls.

Top fundraisers were Jasmine Sheppard and Bonny Robins who raised a mammoth £664.33, Aasiyah Faizal, who raised  ?329.99 and Livvy Harrison who raised £322.

James highlighted his own experience of attending Commonweal school as being important in his own success: “Commonweal was a really positive experience for me. I could not have had the career I have had without the grounding and support I had from the school, as it hugely influenced my values.

“Staff went above and beyond to help me and my siblings who came from a disadvantaged background. I also met my wife at Commonweal and we have been together for 20 years so it has a very personal connection for me,”

“I want to encourage young people to push themselves out of their comfort zone and I know they will surprise themselves with what they can achieve. They will learn the value of money, about responsibility and also they will get out of it what they put into it – a good lesson for life,” he added.

“The students were amazingly mature and organised in their approach to this task. They are encouraged to think outside of the box but we didn’t expect quite so much money to be raised in only 11 days! This came from shrewd planning and recognising where to take those key business decisions.

Their teacher Nick Bartlett said: “I am completely overwhelmed by the lengths the students have gone to, to fulfil the challenge. It is fantastic they really embraced the idea and I can’t thank them enough for their hard work and commitment. They raised much more than we thought they would. Excellent work and a huge congratulations to our scholars.”

Last year the school’s 6th form students went over to Romania to support People Against Poverty with their charity work in Eastern Romania. Students made chicken coops for families in a shantytown and assisted with the building of a shelter for quails so that the village micro-farm could start to supply eggs to restaurants and shops in Romania.

“The level of poverty is like nothing I have seen before,” said Louise Forrester, deputy head of 6th form who in recent years has also organised trips to the Gambia. “These people live in such poverty dealing still with the consequences of the revolution in the 80s. State welfare is minimal, jobs are few, education is limited and alcoholism and trafficking are rife. I took a group of 6th formers over to Romania and the chicken coops we made were on wooden legs with a closing door to protect them from foxes and dogs and each chicken coop allowed a family to keep 6 chickens and therefore have a fresh egg supply every day. We return in July this year and any funds raised by 6th formers and our C30 students will be used to further support this programme,” she added.