Year 9 Charity Event

Year 9 students researched and presented pitches on various local charities with the aim to earn the £1500 winning team prize money for their chosen charity.  It was a close final for the selected charities with students representing Rochdale Connections Trust which "gives everyone a chance to change" claiming the donation. Judges included governors, the headteacher and representatives from Heads of School and the Chair of the School's Charities Committee.  In a tight second place was the charity SuperJosh which was awarded £500.  A prize was also awarded for the best presentation.

Students Isabelle Brittain, Eloise Friend, Madison Beaumont and Lucy Turner constituted the team representing Rochdale Connections Trust.  All four of the students are from Rochdale and wanted to support a RCT because of its community-based work to empower young people and adults living across the borough who have suffered a hard time and been challenged throughout their lives.  The Charity helps all ages overcome barriers and get their lives on track by providing private mentoring and bespoke packages of intervention and support.  Maddy Beaumont commented that RCT "aims to rehabilitate both victims and perpetrators of abuse, in the hope of stopping abuse in the local community" with Lucy Turner listing some of the social issues in the local community ranging from poverty to angered teens, grooming and discrimination.  The students also referred to a letter of support from a Mum who has benefited from RCT whose daughter was raped at the age of 14.  She said:  "It took one phone call and a kind heart to make things just that little better on this long painful journey.  Without this lifeline we would still be trying to access support for our daughter, the support which will make a world of difference in how she deals with this traumatic event over the course of her life." 

Students Erin Hargreaves, Kia Hacking, Claudia Delafield, Elizabeth Jackson and Ethan Mew were the team awarded second place, supporitng the charity SuperJosh (originally known as The Joshua Wilson Brain Tumour Charity).  SuperJosh was set up in 2013 by Joshua Wilson and his mum, Dawn on Joshua's 13th birthday.  Joshua had lived with a brain tumour since the age of three and a half years old and he was only given six weeks to live.  After surgery he was in a coma for three months and left physically disabled.  This led to ten years of intense surgery and chemotherapy with Josh requiring specialist equipment and house adaptations.  Sadly, Josh died in November 2014 after developing scoliosis and other complications such as lung failure but the charity continues.

Student Elizabeth Jackson said that SuperJosh deserved funding because "they have provided inspiring and invaluable support for families in our local community and helped people at a time in their lives where they were terrified, vulnerable and devastated by the potential loss of their loved one."  Erin Hargreaves commented on an entertainment package the charity donated to the Royal Oldham Hospital containing "video game consoles, DVDs, books and arts and crafts materials to help support and de-stress young patients who may have to spend a very long time in the ward."