College rewarded for charity work

The school has been named the overall winner of the Citizenship Foundation's Giving Nation Awards.

Its charity team has won the chance to travel to Kenya to experience the work of charity Sightsavers International to prevent and cure blindness.

The school will also receive a joint regional award for the South East at an awards ceremony at HM Treasury in October.

To enter the awards, the Felpham team wrote a diary on the G-Nation website describing all their charitable activity, volunteering and campaigning activities throughout the school year.

Felicity Tyson, websites editor and one of this year's judges, said: 'Every single student at Felpham is involved in making a difference.

"Every student votes on which charity to support and every student participates.

"Their determination to raise awareness about HIV in Africa, funds for local hospices and campaign to keep their local hospital open demonstrate that they are the true leaders of a movement of young people around the U.K. using their creativity, determination and passion to make a difference.'

The team from Felpham will travel through Kenya experiencing how the work of charities like Sightsavers can have a truly life-changing impact on individuals and communities. They will also meet and work with young Kenyans on across-cultural arts projects. Speaking about the prize, Jo Mitchell from Sightsavers International, said: 'This trip represents an amazing opportunity to learn about life in rural and urban environments of this beautiful country.

"Seeing the life changing work that Sightsavers' partners carry out in Kenya provides a once in a lifetime experience that we hope will stay with the winners forever!'

Elena, a student from Felpham Community College, added: 'I had tears in my eyes when I discovered we had won the main prize. Visiting Kenya with Sightsavers is going to be an amazing, life-changing experience.

"This year we have worked really hard but it has been a lot of fun.

"We've supported and learnt about some brilliant charities this year Dystonia, NET Patient Foundation, and our own Hands Across The World project supporting children in South Africa to name but a few.'

The school will be presented with their awards at a ceremony at HM Treasury, Westminster on Monday 29th October.

The Giving Nation schools programme promotes and supports young people's learning and engagement in charitable activity, volunteering and campaigning through free school resources, an online awards programme and a web community at www.g-nation.co.uk