Fantastic Fundraising As Tollbar Students Remember The True Values Of Christmas
The Year 8 winner and runners-up of the Tollbar Academy Design A Christmas Mug competition are Jess Parkinson, Aaron Hager and Rayanna Ebbs.
Students at Tollbar Academy and MAT Sixth Form College have put all of their energy into fundraising for those less fortunate than themselves this Christmas in an effort to remember the true values of the festive season.
The students have taken part in a wide variety of activities to raise money and goods for charities such as Save The Children, Blue Cross Grimsby Animal Hospital, The Ark, Jerry Green, the staff of the NHS, The Women’s Refuge, Harbour Place and Andy’s at St Andrew’s Hospice.
Events have included: a Christmas Jumper Day for Save The Children, a “Design A Hot Chocolate Mug” competition, and a ‘Design a Christmas Card’ (in a Foreign language) competition; plus a wide range of Sixth Form charitable collections as part of their annual Givemas celebrations.
The Design a Mug competition was featured on the online platform at Tollbar Academy and encouraged students from Years 8, 9 and 10 to design a mug that would celebrate any of the following seasonal celebrations: Christmas Day, Bodhi Day, Pancha Ganapati, Human Light Day, Hannukah and Yule. The winners received their mugs with their designs printed on them, and the runners-up received a Christmas selection box.
The Year 7 winners were: Freya Tonks; Isabelle Hewis and Billie-Rai Wingate-Chester. The runners-up were: Anisa Safa; Issabella Owen and Keeley McMillan. The Year 8 winner was: Jess Parkinson. The runners-up were: Aaron Hager and Rayanna Ebbs. The Year 9 winners were: Lola Morris and Ashlee McInnes.
Claire Stephen, Acting Curriculum Leader for Art and Design, said: “The mug competition was greatly received by a large proportion of students who responded with excellent creativity and imagination. Having the winning designs transferred to real products will also help students see the links between the classroom and possible careers. It also made for a great prize and we are delighted with everyone involved.”
More than 50 students took part in the ‘Design A Christmas Card’ competition, which proved a big success with students in all year groups.
Many of the cards were handmade, and provided important information about Christmas in other countries, including Christmas messages in different languages such as Norwegian, Japanese and Spanish. All of the cards were well-designed and selecting the winners and top runners-up was not an easy job.
The winner was: Maja Ciurzynska: second prize went to Grace Coupland; and third price to Jasmeen Madaan. The runners-up were: Amelia North; Lauren Harrison; Emily Harrison; Millie Cole; Kierah Amir; Megan Spencer; and Elizabeth Williams. All participants received a commendation certificate. The winners and runners-up received certificates and prizes.
Maja was delighted to find out she had won the competition. She said: “I created my card to show how Christmas is all about being with my family and the cotton wool of my Snowman represents the warmth of family and the white of snow.” Jasmeen Madaan, whose card was written in Punjabi, said that she was very pleased to have won a prize and that it was really nice to have been able to express herself in Punjabi.
Christmas Jumper Day was held to coincide with Save The Children’s worldwide fundraiser and students and staff dressed up and donated money for the cause.
Vice Principal Jo Creese, said: “We are very pleased with the amount raised for such a worthwhile cause as Save the Children. Students’ and staff participation in wearing festive jumpers generated an abundance of colour around the Academy, raising spirits at the end of a challenging term.”
Sixth Form students at Tollbar took part in their own Givemas fundraising campaign, which included collections for Harbour Place, The Ark and Jerry Green, the NHS staff, and the Women’s Refuge. They collected non-perishable foods for Harbour Place, dog and cat food for the animal shelters, toiletries for the NHS, and brand new toys to suit a wide range of age groups for the Women’s Refuge.
Katie Clorley, of the Sixth Form Leadership Team, said: “The Student Ambassadors and Sixth Form Leadership Team are both proud and humbled by the huge range of toys and gifts donated by staff and students throughout the whole Academy. So many members of our Academy community have collectively purchased age appropriate donations ensuring each age group within the refuge appeal has a gift.”
Caroline Yates, Principal of Tollbar Academy and Tollbar MAT Sixth Form College, said: “I am so very proud of every single student and member of staff who has contributed to the charity collections and fundraising activities this year. It has been the most difficult of years for everyone and yet they have all taken time to think of others and to give so generously to help such a wide variety of causes.”
The final totals for fundraising will be published in the New Year.
Some of the winners and runners-up of the Design a Mug competition are (l-r) Izzy Hewis, Isabella Owen and Billie-Rai Chester, all Year 7.
Some of the winning mug designs.
The Tollbar Academy Design A Christmas Card (in a foreign language) winners are Year 7 students: Maja Ciurzynska (centre) winner, Jaasmeen Madaan (right, third place) and Grace Coupland (second place).
Tollbar MAT Sixth Form College students with their food trollies which are part of their Givemas charity collections. Pictured are: (L-r) Sultana Zahan, Sophie Read, Poppy-Mai Hutchinson, William Lonsdale, Kiera Walker, Kacey Buckley and Millie Thompson.
The winners and runners-up of the Tollbar Academy Design A Christmas Card (in a Foreign Language) competition.
Above and below: Tollbar Academy students put on their Christmas jumpers to raise money for Save The Children.
