Thousands of pounds raised by Perth High School will help children with complex additional support needs return to their youth groups.
Senior pupils raised more than £2,100 for local charity Support, Help, Integration in Perthshire (SHIP).
The organisation supports young people with additional support needs, from birth through to their school years and beyond.
Vital youth groups, which help the young people develop lasting friendships, were suspended because of Covid-19.
But the fundraising efforts from the school mean the children will get back to “doing what they love”, according to SHIP’s general manager Nicola Schelbert.
Original paintings by art teacher Mrs Ross – also known as local artist Nicola McBride – were raffled off to help raise a large sum of cash.
Delighted to donate a biro pen piece to @PerthHighSchool to raffle and support them raise more funds for their chosen charity @SHIPcharity 🤞🏻 it does well @PHSHeadTeam2020 #weAREphs @rickyaross @reallorraine @SusanCalman @thoughtland @LeeCormack pic.twitter.com/SmQ9lyD8GO
— nicola mcbride biro pen art (@NicolaMcBride4) December 16, 2020
Pupils also raised more than £300 of the cash by getting the whole school to guess how many sweets were in a jar.
Nicola said the charity was “delighted” to learn the school was supporting the local charity.
The money will be used to purchase equipment which will give the young people a safe experience at their youth groups.
She said: “The pupils have done so well and we were absolutely delighted that they’d chosen to support our charity, especially during Covid times.
“We will put the money towards setting up our youth clubs again which were suspended because of the pandemic.
“The young people that we support can have very complex additional support needs and they need specific specialised equipment to help care for them when they are here so they can have the same experience as everyone else.
“It makes such a massive difference and without this help we couldn’t afford to run.
“The money and the impact it has really wouldn’t be possible without local support and it’s lovely that people are supporting a local charity as well.”
Our young people would be very sad without the volunteers – they absolutely love them.”
The school’s decision to support SHIP was an easy one after former head prefect Ella McElnea shared her experience of volunteering with the charity.
She has worked with SHIP for around five years and helped support vulnerable children across Perthshire.
Volunteers are the “backbone” of the charity, according to general manager Nicola.
She is encouraging pupils aged over 14 and over to join, she said: “Volunteers give the young people that we’re supporting a unique peer group.
“The volunteers learn some really good new skills and we put them through a training programme and mentor them through the volunteering.
“But I think our young people would be very sad without the volunteers – they absolutely love them.”
