Trust Youth in Sandwell!

Trust Youth pupils celebrate with Bill Butler from the British Red Cross

Trust Youth ran a great programme in Sandwell back in 2007 with Willingsworth High School (now the RSA Academy).

We were invited back this year by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council to work with four Sandwell schools as part of their Get On And Learn (GOAL) programme. Pupils from Holly Lodge, Manor Foundation, Wodensborough Community Technology College and Ormiston Sandwell Community Academy ran fundraising and awareness raising projects, supported by Trust Youth and our partner charity - the British Red Cross. They raised over £500 for the British Red Cross, and raised awareness of the charity's great work amongst their school.

Pupils from the schools wrote the following comments for this blog:

What went well

Our cooperation was amazing, but honestly I think that’s due to us being good friends. Our Tea Sale went extremely well, which we are all proud of. The best thing was having the support of Thyssen [mentor].

What went well is the events we did and when we worked as a team.

It’s very fun today. We would recommend it to others. It was very interesting and enjoyable.

The things that went well was the ideas that we came up with succeeded, and we raised money.

What didn’t go well

What didn’t go well was that some of the team fell out with each other but we sorted it as a team. We would also plan an event we wanted to do, but we couldn’t do it because of exams and the snow we had for three days.

The lack of participation from some of the teachers.

People sometimes weren't turning up to meeting, and when they did they were only coming for the free food!

Other schools doing Trust Youth

We would recommend it to any other schools. It’s a great cause!

I would suggest that other people could do Trust Youth. I would recommend that the other groups should do a car wash because we thought it was great.

We would like to send our many congratulations to the pupils!

London Celebration!

Teams from Haling Manor High, London Academy and Parliament Hill School travelled to central London for the second London Celebration of the year. And what an event it was! We heard all about the Trust Youth projects the teams had been doing, raising money and awareness for the British Red Cross, RSPCA and Age Concern. Here is what they did:

Haling Manor

• Charity: RSPCA
  
• Year group: Year 7s and 8s
  
• Fundraising projects: cake sale (£25) and food stall (£60)
  
• Campaign: to introduce free range eggs into the school canteen
  

The team ran a Year 8 assembly to raise awareness about the importance of free range eggs, and then met with the school's Canteen Manager and Head Teacher, presenting them with a petition of almost 500 signatures from pupils in the school. As a result, the school will be introducing free range eggs this autumn. 

After a fantastic presentation at the Trust Youth Celebration, the team were awarded the Best Presentation, as well as a special certificate for participating in Trust Youth and doing such a great job for the RSPCA.

London Academy

• Charity: British Red Cross
  
• Year group: Year 10s
  
• Fundraising project: dress down day (£800)
  
• Awareness raising project: assembly in front of 300 people
  

This is the third year London Academy have been involved with Trust Youth, and they raised a huge £800 for the British Red Cross, as well as spreading the message about the Red Cross to their fellow pupils at an assembly in front of 300 people. Pamela Chapman from the British Red Cross was thrilled with their work, and handed out the Trust Youth certificate for Best Teamwork at the Celebration, as well as the participation award for supporting the British Red Cross so well.

Parliament Hill

• Charity: Age Concern Camden
  
• Year group: Year 10s
  
• Fundraising project: car wash, cake sale, pyjama day (£486 raised so far, more to come!)
  
• Awareness raising project: Clip It bags
  

This is the first year Parliament Hill have take part in Trust Youth, and they decided to support their local Age Concern in Camden. The team ran a number of fundraising projects, with more money still to come in, and through designing special trendy bags they raised awareness of the work of Age Concern. They estimate an amazing 1,200 people heard about Age Concern through their awareness raising. Gary Jones, Chief Executive of Age Concern Camden, was hugely impressed by their work, and handed them the Trust Youth certificate for best fundraising idea, as well as a certificate of participation for supporting Age Concern.

See below for comments from some of the teams on the day!

London Celebration comments

We have learnt:

• About Trust Youth
  
• About others and what they have done
  
• How our contributions can be so important and affect the lives of others
  
• How to use skills in different ways and how important they can be, such as teamwork which has improved through organising our events
  
• Most importantly, we have learnt how to co-operate and communicate when essential. How to get on with people that you may not be friends with. And how to work with teachers and gain the help needed in order to achieve our aim.
  

Sadia and Zac (London Academy), Jasmin (Haling Manor) and Hanan (Parliament Hill)

London Celebration comments

One of the best experiences we had was making new friends. At the beginning we didn’t really know each other, but as time passed we grew a relationship with each other and became close to each other.

Another good experience we had was working as a team which as a result created a bond with one another. We learnt with each other, and at the end of it we successfully achieved our goal and raised more than we could imagine.

Ylli, Ekin, Madhu, Tomi and Kelly (London Academy and Haling Manor)

London Celebration comments

We learnt teamwork, how to communicate ideas and pick the best ones. Also we learnt new skills, such as filming.

Valerie (Parliament Hill), Georgia and Nikki (Haling Manor), Keshvi and Jack (London Academy)