Year 7 students from Sydney Russell School recently took part in a fun run and a sponsored silence in order to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. After a touching assembly about the charity by Year 12 student Lee, students from one Year 7 form decided to develop ideas of what they could do to make a contribution to the charity by raising money to donate.

On 16th January, under the guidance of their form tutor Mr Williams, 25 students from 7FE took part in a day-long sponsored silence; whilst the remaining 10 students participated in a fun run which took place after school.

“The hardest part was staying silent all day! It was the longest I had ever gone without talking and I nearly broke the silence at the beginning of the day. I am really glad we had the opportunity to raise so much money for charity, we all felt very proud of ourselves and can’t wait to do a noisy day in the future!” said one student from 7FE.

Their form tutor Mr. Williams is extremely proud of his form. “I am very pleased that even from such a young age, the students felt inspired enough by the assembly that they wanted to make a change themselves. I had no involvement with the planning, the students did it all by themselves and did such a great job.”

“When I gave the speech I never would have imagined that a form would be so inspired and encouraged to raise so much money for charity. I plan on doing another speech in assembly in order to encourage other forms to also raise money and create a small competition of who can raise the most money,” said sixth former Lee, who ran the assembly.

Altogether, these altruistic students raised an outstanding £444.63, which is incredibly impressive for one small group of students who organised their own fundraising event. The school prides itself on broadcasting such positive messages and encourages all of its students to contribute to charity through fundraising. The students were rewarded with a breakfast provided by the school’s leadership team where their success was celebrated by staff and students alike.