CHILDREN from a secondary school won £1,000 to donate to charity in a community action project they took part in during the summer term.

Three teenage boys from Mangotsfield school won the donation for a charity that tackles bullying and mental health issues after delivering presentation based on their own research.

Mangotsfield School’s winning team, Harry, Leo and Matthew, all 13 years old, were awarded the donation for their selected charity – Ditch the Label, launched in 2012 the charity is one of the largest youth charities in the world who help 12–25-year-olds tackle bullying, mental health, cyberbullying, body-image, relationships, sex, identity and coming out.

The boys chose the charity after taking part in a series of workshops, assemblies and lessons to inspire charitable action.

Across a two-month period, groups of pupils identified which social issues are present in the school’s local community and researched charities that are working hard to minimise these issues.

Students learnt about the impact the charities were having on the local community and considered how their group could support.

Small groups of students planned and executed social action activities to raise awareness and fundraise, to support important issues such as, mental health, bullying, and homelessness.

They then delivered final presentations about the work they had been doing to help their chosen charity. Each group presented to their peers who voted for their chosen finalists.

Winner Harry said: “I was absolutely shocked when we won, I was like, is this a dream!? We chose our charity because it helps people around our age, so if someone’s experiencing bullying or something similar, it would be good for them to have the support.”

In order to raise money for their chosen charity, the team didn’t speak for an entire day. Leo said the silence represented people who 'shut themselves in and don’t want to speak about any of their problems.”

The finals, which heavily featured charitable work centred on homelessness and animals, couldn’t have made Hetty prouder and she alluded to the importance of the First Give programme.

For more information, please visit https://firstgive.co.uk/