Plympton Academy raises £2,000 for mental health charity

Students and staff from Plympton Academy have raised £2,000 for a young person’s mental health charity.

Young Minds is the very first beneficiary of the school’s Charity of the Year and was chosen by the Academy pupils and staff following nominations and a final vote.

Young Minds offers an instant text counselling service for young people; a parent’s helpline; online advice and guidance, and works with schools to improve the mental health provision for young people.

A variety of fundraising events took place throughout the year including a non-uniform day, a sleepover for Year 7 and 8 students in the Michael Morpurgo studios, tutor time quizzes and cake sales.

“We are delighted with raising £2,000 for this very worthwhile charity,” said Plympton Academy Assistant Principal, Ian Hartley. “‘It was really interesting to see what charities our students wanted to support and the very personal stories behind the nominations. Once we had announced that Young Minds was the winning charity, the Academy community really got involved in fundraising. Special recognition goes to English teacher, Sara Clyndes who organised the sleepover (and all of the staff who supported the running of it), and Ben Bacon who raised the most amount as an individual student.”

The school has already chosen this year’s charity with Crohns and Colitis UK winning the vote.

“We’re already planning our activities for this year and hope to beat last year’s total,” said Ian Hartley.