The pupils and staff at Laisterdyke Leadership Academy have been helping local charities during the festive season as part of a special campaign of charitable giving.
Pupils and staff have been busy collecting donations as part of their annual Festive Winter Gift Programme, which offers support to people in need over the festive period.
As part of this year’s appeal, staff and pupils filled 27 shoeboxes with gifts and toiletries for children who would otherwise not receive a Christmas gift for the Cinderella Club shoebox appeal. Cinderella Club is a local charity which seeks to help underprivileged children access education and activities.
Staff also donated presents to a Christmas Wishlist that was collected on behalf of children and young people in Bradford Hospitals. A hospital stay can be a worrying experience for children, and this year has been especially difficult with young patients only allowed one visitor. Staff donated gifts that were sent directly from Amazon, including babygrows, rattles, books, colouring sets, train sets, toy cars and games.
As part of their campaign, the school also joined with other Star Academies schools to take part in ‘Food for All Week’. From 7th to 13th December, all 29 schools across the Star Academies multi-academy trust distributed 50,000 food parcels and meals to those experiencing food poverty.
The caring team at Laisterdyke Leadership Academy were determined to help families in the school community who were at risk of experiencing hardship over the festive season. Food was donated by generous pupils and members of staff and the collection was supplemented by donations from local businesses and organisations including Morrisons, SaveCo and the Himmat Group. The festive food packages were then delivered to vulnerable families.
Craig Dillon, Executive Principal at the school, thanked pupils, parents and staff for their commitment to this year’s Festive Winter Gift appeal.
He said: “This has been a difficult year for many of our families, yet despite this, they have given what they are able and still managed to think of others less fortunate during the festive season.
“As a school we are incredibly humbled by the generosity and kindness of our families and we are very grateful that we are able to be part of such a wonderful community.
“I would like to say thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to support this year’s campaign.”