Each year at ESMS, pupils from across S2 take part in The Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI). Delivered in schools across Scotland, the Wood Foundation launched the initiative with the intention of empowering children to make a difference in their local communities whilst also helping them to develop a range of different skills.
After identifying their chosen local charity, children must research the charity and then prepare and deliver a persuasive presentation to judges to pitch their cause as the rightful £3,000 grant winner. We are incredibly proud of our S2 pupils who, in this session alone, have managed to raise an incredible £8,455 for local charities through this fantastic initiative. This is particularly owed to S2T’s group, Elissa J, Kayla M, Lucia M and Annabel S (pictured above) who had success at the National YPI Final, earning child bereavement charity ‘Held in our Hearts’ their very own four-figure grant.
We caught up with another group, S2A group, Emmeline WM, Katie L, Clara P and Chloe L, who managed to raise an amazing £905 for their chosen charity, HopScotch. HopScotch is a Scottish-based charity that provides free respite breaks for disadvantaged children in Scotland.
Each group takes time and effort to research and find a charity that is meaningful to them. Katie L comments: “HopScotch stood out to us as we wanted to choose a charity that we knew made a permanent impact on children's lives and for us, HopScotch did that.”
It won’t surprise many of our pupils and parents to know that the fundraising ideas the groups devise are not only fun, but can often be challenging too. Katie L continues: “We were doing a map of the 7 Hills in Geography and learning about each hill. So, when it came to choosing how we would raise money, we had many ideas from bake sales to sponsored bike rides. However, we wanted to try something different and really challenge ourselves. Eventually, we decided on the 7 Hills Challenge.”
YPI has many benefits to our pupils, including building confidence, exercising their creativity and improving social awareness. Not only does it provide the group with an opportunity to bond, but it creates meaningful community connections too. Emmeline WM adds: “We became closer as friends and learned how important it is not to take things for granted. It has made us all want to help out in our communities as much as possible.”
We are incredibly proud of this year’s ESMS YPI cohort, and we know that their efforts will go a long way to support the amazing work of charities in our local community.
