Littlehampton students set second fundraising challenge after successful Everest climb

The year-11 Futures group raised £540 for Mind with its virtual Everest challenge, working as a team to climb a combined total of 8,849m up the stairs at home.

Now, with that under their belt, the students are doing a virtual walk from Land’s End to John O’Groats to raise money for Turning Tides, the West Sussex charity helping the homeless.

Richard Hanks, assistant principal, said: “After the success of climbing Mount Everest on our stairs and raising more than £500 for Mind, the students decided that they wanted to do another challenge to raise money for a local charity.

“We hope to complete it by March 19, so will start it in lockdown and finish it at school.”

The target is 971km in total, the distance as the crow flies from Land’s End on the south-west tip of England to John O’Groats on the north-east coast of Scotland.

Mr Hanks said lockdown had been hard for everyone but particularly so for students in year 11, who were ‘preparing hard for their GCSE examinations, only for them to be cancelled and their futures cast in to doubt’.

The fundraising challenges have given the Futures group a sense of pride during a challenging time and being able to finish together back at school will be an added bonus this time.

Mr Hanks said: “It has really motivated them and given them a sense of positivity and belonging, even though they are attending only online lessons at the moment and not coming into the building.

“It has also meant that they are staying active, as six hours of online learning a day is mentally challenging.”

The students wanted something positive to focus chose the charity Mind and

Visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/yr11futures for more information and to make a donation.