Woking High School students have again risen to the challenge of supporting charities this festive season.

“This year, Student Voice Council wanted to find ways to help the wider school and the local community,” said Nicholas Houghton, Student Voice lead and English teacher. “With this in mind, we set up the charity connections in the run-up to Christmas.”

The school held the Year Seven and Eight charity discos and they were a huge success. The sight and sound of 160 Year Sevens singing “We wish it could be Christmas every day” started the season memorably, and the night raised nearly £1,000, easily beating last year’s total.

This money started the school’s gazebo appeal. Unfortunately, age and the recent wet weather means one of the outside covered areas for students has been condemned as unsafe so the school are raising funds for a replacement.

Year Seven also continued to support the Rotary Club Shoebox Appeal, filling 48 shoeboxes with toys and gifts for children in Ukraine and eastern European.

Year Nine are also raising money for the new gazebo via a sweet sale; the amount of sweets collected suggests another great success.

Representatives from Year Eight Student Voice visited the St Peter’s Hospital neonatal ward to deliver nine sacks of toys and games to children in hospital over Christmas. This is always a moving event, and an opportunity for the students to see the impact of their charity work.

Years 10 and 11 continued the relationship with York Road Project, and received some 19 rucksacks of various sizes packed with sleeping bags, food, towels and other items useful to people trying to reintegrate into the community. It is powerful to see our students connecting with people going through difficult times.

Charity is always the school’s focus this close to Christmas, and once again the students have performed magnificently.