Age UK receives ‘grand’ support from Eden Girls’ School First Give winners

Age UK Berkshire is over £1,000 better off after a group of Eden Girls’ School pupils who chose to support the charity triumphed in our recent First Give final.

Our Year 7 pupils take part in the First Give programme every year. The programme aims to encourage young people to take positive action within their communities to address issues that concern them. Working with mentors, pupils are encouraged to use their time, talent and passion to support local causes through fundraising and awareness raising.

Four teams of Year 7 pupils each chose a local charity to support. In addition to Age UK Berkshire, Shelter, Slough Food Bank and Slough Refugee Support also benefited from our pupils’ fundraising and awareness raising campaigns in school.

Taking part in the First Give programme has seen our Year 7 pupils develop key professional skills such as working as a team, conducting research and building leadership traits. Pupils also attended workshops in public speaking and presentation skills.

The four teams competed at our First Give final on Wednesday 28 March for the prize of £1,000 for their chosen charity.

Pupils delivered presentations about the work of the four charities to an audience that included the Mayor of Slough, Councillor Ishrat Shah. Laura Lancaster, Head of Slough Music Service, and Andrew Paul, President of Slough Rotary Club, joined the judging panel to find the eventual winners.

Pupils Hanah Khan, Jannah Latiff, Madina Younis, Huma Aleem and Ahlam Salim were declared the winners as a result of the passion they showed for Age UK, and the creativity and confident delivery of their presentation.

Our Principal Karim Murcia said, “Our partnership with First Give is extremely important to our school. The programme gives our pupils a special opportunity to reflect on the social issues affecting our local community and engage with representatives from a wide range of organisations working to support those with the greatest needs.

“Through their projects, learners are also able to develop crucial leadership skills such as teamwork and public speaking. I am very proud to be able to say that all pupils in our school have taken part in the excellent First Give initiative.”

Kim Rolfe, Operations Manager at Age UK Berkshire, attended the First Give final at Eden Girls’ School and was delighted to receive the cheque for £1,000. She said, “It was an honour to be invited to such an exciting evening and all the girls had obviously worked so hard on their projects and all of the presentations were so well done. However, “my team” supporting Age UK Berkshire made an incredible video which bought a tear to my eye and many others in the audience. On behalf of Age UK Berkshire, I should like to thank the girls for their magnificent efforts and we will be in touch to let them know how the funds have been used.”

Shelter, Slough Food Bank and Slough Refugee Support each received a cheque from our school, for monies raised by Year 7 pupils during their campaigning and fundraising activities.

We have been working with First Give since 2015, when our school first opened. Over the last three years all pupils have benefited from the First Give programme and have been able to offer support to a range of charities in the Slough area, including cancer charities, a food bank, charities supporting homeless people and a trust that supports terminally ill children and their families. This includes financial support of £4,000, thanks to the money awarded by First Give to the winning classes in each year of the programme.

First Give Facilitator Helen Kelleher attended the Eden Girls’ School, Slough final. She said, “What an amazing final! There were incredible moments of creativity – I was so pleased to see all the teams had made videos and used audience participation, and two even had songs! I am so proud of how the students did, especially after working with them in their presentation skills workshop – they really took on the feedback. It’s amazing that they also raised over £500 and between them put over 800 hours into the project! Well done to all involved!”

Age UK receives a cheque from First Give for £1,000 courtesy of Eden Girls’ School, Slough – left to right are: (standing) Madina Younis, Maaria Suleman and Huma Aleem; (seated) : Ahlam Salim, Hanah Khan and Jannah Latiff

The winning team for Eden Girls’ School, Slough – left to right are: Miss Sugra Riasat (Learning Co-ordinator), Ahlam Salim, Madina Younis, Hanah Khan, Kim Rolfe (Operations Manager, Age UK Berkshire), Maaria Suleman, Huma Aleem, Jannah Latiff, and Mrs Irrum Fida (Teacher of Religious Studies and First Give Lead)

Added By: Eden Girls' School, Slough | Date Added: 10th Apr 2018 | Posted In: Events