First Give- What is it?

First Give is a charity initiative, hosted in school for all Year 8’s as an interesting way for a class to raise awareness for charity. It is held during your Citizenship lessons, giving students ample opportunities to work in and outside of school to learn more about their community and social actions. In class, you will go through the pre-planned course, being split into groups to tackle a social issue you as a group find important- this add a healthy bit of competition.  

The Charity Fair

After all your research and planning, all classes will be given time to present their charity and gain support in the coveted Charity Fair. Every group from every class is given their own stall, with the chance to do anything they want in the hope of attracting attention from the Year 7’s. This year was a year different from other years. There was a nerf gun range, a blindfolded shootout, a darts game. Really, if you have the imagination, you can do anything. And all of this information is crucial for the final phase of the First Give Initiative- The Final.

The Final

In your classes, you will vote for one group that has put in the most effort into their charity fair, the group that has put the research in and the group that has a genuine desire to tackle their chosen social issue. This group will be representing your class and your charity, with the hopes of winning the £1000 for your charity. For us it was our local Salvation Army. Those groups will get a personalised workshop to help them hone in on their performing skills. 

Buzzing with excitement, our class were selected to go first. Certainly presenting in front of all your peers and teachers is no easy task, but we were determined to give our best. Our presentation was great, with our technical experts outdoing themselves in the production of the video. We included pictures of our social action during the Charity Fair, and on top of that we hosted an independent Krispy Kreme Sale the week before, raising a grand total of £292.90.  However, this competition was far from easy, with other groups shining. One group even made an interactive game for the Headmaster to try out. We sat there in a nervous silence the entire time, wondering how badly we were going to lose this competition. Our whole efforts over the year was riding on this. But, in a pleasant turn of events, we had somehow clinched the victory, raising £1292.90 for the Salvation Army.

Even though my class may claim me to be the reason we won, this whole initiative is more than one person. It is a about a group of boys that care and understand about their community, and certainly this whole journey opened our eyes to the struggle around us. The whole of 8W had worked very hard for us to win.

So to the future Year 8’s have fun with this project, learn about your charity and take a moment to appreciate what you have. This competition is about creativity and hard-work so we look forward to seeing what you come up with.

By Anish Mandal