Sixth Form College Students Raise Vital Funds as Part of Citizenship Scheme...

Students from The Sixth Form College have helped to raise more than £3,700.00 for Wirral charities as part of the National Citizenship Scheme (NCS).

The students’ success was announced during the NCS summer graduation at St Joseph’s Social Centre in Birkenhead.

NCS is a Government programme which is available to young people across England and Northern Ireland aged 15 – 17. The ethos of the programme is to provide opportunities for young people to develop new skills, meet new people and make a difference to their local community.

A total of 24 students from BSFC took part in the programme over the summer holidays. The programme offers students a five day residential break during which the members are able to meet like-minded people. Students also benefit from a full programme of training ranging from First Aid training to Child Exploitation Online Protection training (CEOP).

During the programme the group is introduced to local charities that drive positive change within the community and are encouraged to raise funds for nominated charities. A total of nine Wirral charities will benefit from the £3700.00 raised by the students.

As part of the programme, the students launched a social action project to benefit George Johnson – a four-year-old boy from Wirral who suffers from a rare condition which means that he has to be fed through a tube in his heart. Other charities to benefit include the Alzheimer’s Society and Iggle Piggle – the Arrowe Park Neonatal Ward.

College Principal Kathryn Podmore said that the college has been actively recruiting students to take part on the scheme due to the NSC’s focus on leadership and strong community ethos.

“The Sixth Form College in Birkenhead places great focus on leadership and community ethos alongside academic achievements. The National Citizen Service programme combines all of these attributes. We are delighted that in 2014 – 45 students from the College have participated on the programme – with additional students expected to take part in the programme in autumn.”

Christine Marchant, Wirral Coordinator for NCS said: “The NCS programme provides life changing experiences to young people in Wirral whilst massively benefitting local charities. The Wirral NCS programme attracts 180 young people from the area each year and a large portion of these come from the Sixth Form College in Birkenhead. We are delighted by the commitment shown by these students and we look forward to welcoming new students from the College onto the programme over the coming months.”