Leighton Park Students Secure £3K For Local Charity
A five-strong student team from Leighton Park School on Shinfield Road, have secured £3,000 for a local charity, Decibels, in a fiercely contested competition. The three boys and two girls in year 10 at the independent school, were overjoyed to win the cash prize in support of Decibels, whose stated aim is to “make a difference to people with disabilities through sound, music, the arts, performance and technology.”
The competition was organised by Rachael Martin, leader of Leighton Park’s Community, Action, Service (CAS) programme with the aim of directly engaging students in philanthropic activities. Rachael introduced all year 10 students to the work of the Youth Philanthropy Initiative (YPI), a Canadian-based philanthropic education foundation with strong links to the UK’s Institute of Philanthropy. YPI offers an academic course which teaches students to work in small groups to identify social issues within their local community, to understand which charities are working to combat those issues and to select a charity to support. The teams undertake desk research in school, on site visits and interviews with the charity to gain a thorough appreciation of its ambitions and challenges, before delivering a presentation advocating why their charity should win the £3,000 prize to a panel of 10 judges.
Driven by the dynamism of Rachael Martin, YPI’s Teacher of the Year in 2013, and by the desire to make a positive difference in Reading, the 20 teams of Year 10 students chose charities tackling issues as diverse issues in the local community such as homelessness and the lack of teenage counselling. Aiyana Tandon, Niamh Green, George Hale, Harry Taylor and Matt Denham were thrilled to discover Decibels. Having met Ken Carter, Executive Director and Founder of the charity, who spoke to them with such inspiration and enthusiasm, they were sure that Decibels was a cause worth fighting for.
Paul Townson, Chair of Decibels commented, “We are proud of this YPI award to Decibels and would like to pay tribute to all those from Leighton Park School who have made the award possible, especially its thoughtful and caring pupils.”
The Leighton Park students, accompanied by Ken Carter and Helen Lansdown, head of a sister charity, Deafax, attended a prestigious awards ceremony organised by YPI on 2nd July at the Troxy Theatre in London to celebrate the winners of each local competition throughout the UK and Ireland. Aiyana Tandon was shortlisted as one of the final four out of 63 nominations for YPI’s Student of the Year. “It was a great honour and I was so surprised,” said Aiyana, “She did an amazing job leading her team through the YPI programme and securing this money for Decibels,” commented Ken Carter. I’m delighted that she has remained involved in the project and has spent both her work experience week and part of her summer holiday continuing to work with us. Aiyana is a kind, capable and determined young lady, and a testament to the great values of her school.”