‘Thank you so much for raising money and awareness for Clear Sky. When I met you all at school I realised that I was nearly your age when I lost my Mum, and I was really touched that you wanted to support Clear Sky through your efforts. This means a huge amount to me personally, and to the charity. You are all inspirational; we will always welcome you back to us at Clear Sky any time. The funds will help us support more children who have experienced trauma.’ Sophia Giblin, Clear Sky Children’s Charity.

The DGS First Give final was a truly impressive and moving evening as the audience of family members, friends and judges watched seven inspirational and entertaining presentations from pupils on a chosen charity, which they have been researching and working with over the last few weeks. On the evening of the final, £1000 was on offer from ‘First Give’ for the charity of the winning team. The pupils were incredibly articulate and creative as the audience were treated to poems, pupil-made videos, and a sprinkling of tears and laughter as the girls delivered their heartfelt presentations. 

Although the presentations were all of an exceptionally high standard, somebody had to win. This year, it was the team advocating Clear Sky Children’s Charity, which ‘develops children’s emotional wellbeing through specialist Play and Creative Arts Therapy’. The pupils who deserve huge praise for this are: Saffron Simpson, Alice Hosen, Anysia Sunuwar, Izzy Collett, Eleanor Harrison and Emilia Greetham.

‘The First Give Final is one of the highlights of the year at DGS. Watching students giving impassioned presentations about the charities of their choice and learning about the thousand hours of charity work they have completed so far makes for a wonderful evening. We are incredibly proud of all the students involved and their commitment to making their communities better is absolutely outstanding.’ Tom Goodenough, Headteacher, DGS.

First Give is a nationwide initiative designed to support young people to develop community awareness by teaching them about philanthropy. All pupils at DGS in Year 9 have recently been working in teams to select a local charity that they would like to support. They then received a presentation from a member of the charity before undertaking social action projects to raise money and awareness.  Each class then put together a presentation that culminated with the best groups appearing in the final.