Children live out Christian values at Christmas

Five of the students from St Michael’s CE Middle School are donating their hair to the Little Princess Trust, which makes wigs for young people with cancer.

In addition, a Christmas jumper day and 4km run held at the school raised hundreds for Piam Brown Children and Young Peoples Cancer Ward at Southampton General Hospital.

Headteacher, Ron Jenkinson, said, “This fundraising initiative came directly from three of our Year 8 students, Hala Hazarika, Ambrose Evamy and Jabez Lee, who approached me to ask if we could do this.

“It is particularly heartening to see young people care so much about other children who are very poorly.

“Christmas is about giving and receiving and it was wonderful to see the whole school embrace this fundraising drive and give so much, including their hair, for others less fortunate than them.”

The five students having their hair cut for the Little Princess Trust are Evie Prianes, Caitlin Dalrymple- Irving, Kacey Esposito, Imogen Cable and Verity Stevens.

Evie, aged 10, and Imogen, aged 12, went for the chop in the last week of term in front of 580 students.

This special event was followed by a ‘challenge the teacher’ test when the students got staff members to perform tasks like hula hooping in front of them in return for donations.

Caitlin, Kacey and Verity, aged nine and 10, will be donating their hair in the New Year.

Donations inspired by the haircuts and raised via the 4k run and Christmas jumper day has seen the Wimborne Academy Trust school raise at least £2,000.

CEO of Wimborne Academy Trust, Liz West, said, “What an incredible achievement to raise so much money and in such a short time.

“It makes us all incredibly proud that the children were at the heart of this fundraising initiative.”