During the summer term, our Year 9 Tutor Groups spent their Excellence Programme sessions researching and working to raise awareness of a selection of charities, as part of the First Give initiative. First Give is a charity which inspires young people to make a positive difference to the causes they care about. Their mission is to help the next generation to be kinder and more socially conscious – and to develop the skills and confidence they need to drive social change. The First Give programme has been designed to ignite a spark of social conscience in young people. You can see case studies that show the impact the programme has on young people here.

Each class chose a social issue and charity to support, and then throughout the 10 week programme, carried out social action for that charity. For example, students held bake sales, sold ice lollies on sports day and put up awareness posters around school. The money donated from wearing own clothes on the last day of term will also be shared between the charities. 

Charities supported this year were: The Lucy Rayner Foundation, Rainbow Trust and Renewed Hope.

The programme culminated in a competitive presentation event; two groups from each tutor group were selected for the final where they presented in front of a judging panel comprising: the Mayor and Mayoress of Reigate and Banstead, Cllr Eddy Humphreys and Sarah Humphreys; Rich Michalowski, Cllr for Redhill West and Wray Common Ward; Mrs Gray; Miss Deane and our new Head Prefects, Jacob Loombe and Lakshana Balamurali. 

The Carrington winners were Nia, Alex, Louis and Story for their chosen charity, The Lucy Rayner Foundation, which will receive £1000.

Special commendations were given to Thomas and Elliot. 

Amazing work!